Two questions:
I'm swapping 7.00's for 8.50's, so is it necessary to move the brake calipers around to the front, or can they stay as-is? The parts DVD indicates I need the 3 spacers, 095-00800, and 3 new longer bolts AN5-36A for tire-to-caliper clearance. I've seen other Maules with the calipers moved to the front, but with the spacers, will this be necessary? Preferable for some reason?
Also, I've seen braided stainless hydraulic hose used to replace the factory hard lines. If the calipers have to be moved, is it possible to carefully bend the hard line around, or do I need to replace with the flexible lines? And if so, how do you get inside the landing gear strut fairing other than drilling out the rivets? I can see a compression-JIC hose fitting used to install a short piece of braided to the hard line as it exits the fairing, but seems like leaving the calipers in the rear position with the added spacers is the best way. ??? Tx. R.

Math skills not great. I think that was more than 2 questions.

Instead of wondering if the rigid brake lines will realign, get the ssteel ones and fit them because those old aluminium lines are going to break with fatigue eventually.
Fit the calipers at the front for two reasons.
When braking hard if on back they are pulling tyre off the ground whereas on front they are pulling tyre to the ground.
If on the back, in a side load (crosswind) or if pressure is low the squashed tyre can grab onto the caliper and tear the tyre or trip up the plane.
If on the front the squashed or deflated tyre is moving away from the caliper plus is centrifugally narrow as it rotates down to the caliper.

I've done several 8.50 conversions, never req'd the wheel brake spacers on anything smaller then goodyear blimp tires, or ABW's if using correct PCN wheel / disc? if using old single puck wheel / disc the spacers are probably required, but to best of my knowledge, those aren't approved with double puck calipers as per equip list? I kind of disagree with Jeremy's reasoning front vs rear, but he's been around lots more years then me as far as the Maules go, just don't understand lifting vs downforce of a centrifical force, guess that's why I'm not an engineer... The stainless shrouded Teflon Flex lines are just about as durable as the steel, with added advantage they can be easily moved where ever you want them later, but again a matter of owner preference? And need more support standoffs of one sort or another then the Steel Lines....

The 8.50 x 6 tires can be installed on existing wheels and single puck rear brakes without moving brakes to the front. Don't let your tire pressure get soft or the tire may rub on the brake caliper possibly locking the tire during a bad landing with unexpected side loads.

The brakes aren't as effective with the 8.50 tires.

I have 31" ABW tundra tires on my MX-7-180 now, but before that I had Goodyear 8.50x6.00 tires. I swapped my single-puck brakes and 1/4" rotors out for the ABW dual-puck wheel conversion kit and brakes with 3/8" rotors and flexible stainless steel brake lines. Bought everything from Wup at Alaskan Bushwheels. The calipers are mounted in front. Wup provided all the right hardware (spacers) to make sure the calipers didn't rub on the wider 8.50 tire, but I don't remember if spacers were needed - I don't think they were. Besides the other benefits mentioned by Jeremy and Jim, front mounting provides some protection of the brake pads from mud and dirt and other foreign objects. At the time I had standard Maule faired gear legs. We had to drill out the rivets to run the brake lines. We anchored the brake lines with Adele clamps and then re-installed the fairings and used screws and Tinnerman clips instead of rivets. Now I have standard length ABW HD gear legs without fairings. Makes brake work a lot easier.

If you buy the brakes and wheel conversion kit from Airframes Alaska, they supply all the right hardware except the fairing hardware. I couldn't find the flexible, braided, stainless steel brake lines on the Airframes Alaska web site, but they probably sell them.

There's a thread or two on this forum about using a 45 degree brake fitting and routing the flexible brake line behind the landing gear tube to protect it from branches, rocks, etc. Captnkirk posted some pictures of his on the forum a while ago but I can't find the post.

You can have brake flex brake lines made up at any well equipped Tractor / Catapillar parts supply with a good Hydralic Shop. They also have fittings in the standard 37 degree angles common to most aircraft without having to go thru the mixing and matching required on standard auto 45 degree stuff. I believe that dozers, etc use the 37 degree stuff... Some shops are sensitive to manufacturing aircraft lines, so sometimes best to have them made up to match your "Tractor Lines"? The braded ss lines are good, but up here they stock a internally braded, Teflon coated line that's tougher, smaller, lighter, and rated for way higher pressures then the braded stainless lines... Very easy to tuck away up side of gear legs and out of way from any possible damage. Good luck in your endeavor and figuring out all your options!!

Went looking for the 095-00800 spacers required to move the brake disc out on the 8.50 changeover and got a big surprise. Maule parts is out of stock and Brian discovered his price on a new order from Parker would put my price at over $100 apiece for 6 of these little suckers. He suggested I call Wup, who has spacer rings instead of the 6 individual spacer lugs. Entire kit, including 4 1/8" rings (to build out 1/4" on either side), plus longer bolts, for $120.00. Thanks, Wup.

I have never needed to space out 1/4". 1/8" was always adequate.

Thanks, Jeremy. I'll start with a single set of shims. Wup seemed to think 1/4" was necessary.

Too many shims if not needed moves the caliper inboard and the caliper locator pins move further out of the torque plate holes which can cause binding.

I'm having issues with my single puck brakes, and rather than try to figure out what is wrong, I've been looking at the ABW 199-62 dual puck conversion. The price is certainly better than the Cleveland conversion, do you guys with the ABW conversion kit still like it?

Get double puck system, far superior to single puck, in performance and feel.

Thanks Jeremy, I just ordered brakes from Alaska Bush Wheels (ABW). They are significantly cheaper than Cleveland brakes, I just wondered if anyone had issues with the ABW versus Cleveland kits.