New mechron... dragging brake

[patcopaul]

Good Evening All,
Today I took delivery of a new Mechron.
I have to say I'm pleased with the build quality and will give a more complete impression once I have time to form one.
I do have one problem. The mechanical emergency brake seems to be dragging.
How bad does it drag? I can drive the unit without noticeable resistance but after only 1/2 mile or so the disk is extremely hot and I can smell the pads. Not good.
I have examined the disk (it is installed just before the rear differential) and adjusted the linkage. It appears (as it did before I loosed it further) to be adjusted properly.
While the unit is static I can see light between the disk and the pads. When the unit is jacked up I can turn the real wheels by turning the drive shaft. It's not particularly easy to turn the shaft but it does turn.
I didn't get all up and under the thing today as it was raining fairly hard and the light in the shed wasn't the best.
I don't think the problem is the adjustment.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[250quality]

Sounds like a call to the dealer tomorrow is in order. Looking pretty hard at one myself here. Looks like a top knotch machine and will look great in the shop parked next to my 55.
Good luck and keep me informed.

 

[DT86]

Are you certain it's not just the newness of the machine being broke in? My RTV had a few odd smells ie paint burning off exhaust parts ect for a few days when new. Just a thought.

 

[patcopaul]

DT86 wrote;
"Are you certain it's not just the newness of the machine being broke in? My RTV had a few odd smells ie paint burning off exhaust parts ect for a few days when new. Just a thought."

I don't think so.

Brakes and clutches have a very particular smell and the disk gets extremely hot after only half mile. I did check the disks on each wheel and none of them were more that warm.

I'm going to call the dealer this morning to see what they can come up with.

It's a beautiful morning this morning so I'll get into it today. It's a simple design. I can't be too difficult.

 

[patcopaul]

Fixed!!!

The emergency brake on the Mechron is a typical design.

One pad is stationary and the other pad is pulled onto the disk which in turn pushes the disk into the stationary pad. If that happened properly you stop... without burning anything up.

The problem was that the disk was hard against the stationary pad causing friction. The fix was as you would expect. We shimmed the fixed pad about an additional .050" to free-up the disk. Problem solved.

I was a bit disappointed that the shim had to be so large. That doesn't say much for the tolerances Kioti uses. I was also disappointed to find several bolts finger tight. That's just poor quality control. One more interesting thing about getting into the innards is the things you find. We found several nuts and washers, a cut wire tie, a 15mm Mac socket and peanut shells. Go figure.

 

[SKIDOZER]

Do you think maybe the dealer left that stuff in there? I doubt they use Mac tools overseas.
I think maybe a bit more attention to detail may be required by dealer at setup time.

 

[patcopaul]

SKIDOZER; said;
"You think maybe the dealer left that stuff in there? I doubt they use Mac tools overseas.
I think maybe a bit more attention to detail may be required by dealer at setup time."

Sure the socket may have come from the dealer but I doubt the dealer went around loosing bolts.

 

[Dmace]

Sure the socket may have come from the dealer but I doubt the dealer went around loosing bolts.

The dealer is the one putting this thing together out of the crate and is responsible for checking all the other bolts, grease fittings, fluids, installing battery, etc...
I also would be weary about the shim on the disc brake, will this shim prevent the brake from working when both pads are half worn...?

 

[SKIDOZER]

I had the same problem with a very expensive American motorcycle kickstand fell off in first mile. Nothing on that thing had been checked or adjusted.
Most likely why dealer closed a year later.
But you would think critical items would be checked.
What if you didn't know how to fix it and dealer was over a hour away.

 

[NVGoat]

I would go after the dealer on the brake adjustment, loose bolts, etc. They clearly didn't do their job. I would also let Kioti know about this. They have a part in this. I had problems with mine too in that the dealer (who is very conscientious and honorable) just had to guess as to how some thing fit together out of the crate. My unit was the shakedown guinea pig. Kioti doesn't seem to have clear assembly instructions and a checklist of things to do/check at assembly time. One of the assembly errors made on mine could have caused serious injury if I hadn't caught it.