MORE! Landing gear woes!

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Finley
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:54 pm

MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by Finley »

The main gear on my CT have always concerned me. They lay out at a pretty good angle. The tops of the tires are 1.25" inboard of the bottom. (From Square) The inside of the tires will wear out before the outside tread ever see's the RW!
I think the builder set the geometry with the wing upside down, before it was ever mounted on the plane. Now the weight of the plane has the gear splayed out.
Has anyone ever seen this condition?

I do have a fix in mind, but would rather hear from others before I influence opinions.

More surely to come.
Thanks
jchisolm
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 pm

Re: MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by jchisolm »

It could be that Rib R was put in square with the spar and top wing skin. All the other ribs are installed square but Rib R is tilted 5 deg.
If you place a small square on Rib R it should not be square with the spar caps. If it is square that could explain the issue. With the 5 deg wing dihedral that would cause the gear axles to be farther outboard.

Another option is to take the wheel, axle and any shims off the gear leg and put a protractor or digital angle thing on the face of the gear. I suspect the top of the face is going to read 5 deg inboard.
Joe Chisolm
Express CT builder
Marble Falls, Texas
Finley
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:54 pm

Re: MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by Finley »

Thanks Joe, for the reply! I'll ck this when I get to the plane on Sat.
Any suggestions on a fix?
jchisolm
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 pm

Re: MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by jchisolm »

I cannot think of an easy fix. Do you have fiberglass, steel or aluminum gear legs? If aluminum or steel you might be able to find a place to bend the bottom of the gear leg in to pull the bottom of the wheel in towards the fuselage.
The gear will pivot around the pins in the bracket on Rib R. It might be possible to move the Rib J (farthest inboard) attach point up towards the upper skin. That would swing the wheel back towards the fuselage. Even if possible that would be a lot of work.
Joe Chisolm
Express CT builder
Marble Falls, Texas
Finley
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:54 pm

Re: MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by Finley »

Joe-

I plan to use a 3/8" spacer between the Rib J fitting and the FG gear. Where the 4 bolts go up thru the end. I have the 4 bolts out and it swings the axle end inboard with the shim in place. This may take some tweaking to get the correct shim thickness. And it will take a longer bolt.
I don't see any negatives with the shims. There is down pressure at that point, so the shim or bolts won't have sheer stress.

Any comments?
jchisolm
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 pm

Re: MORE! Landing gear woes!

Post by jchisolm »

Watch your hole alignment in Rib J. The shim is going to cause the gear leg to pivot around the Rib R bracket and, I think, move up towards the upper skin some. I'm not sure about filling those Rib J holes with mil fiber and re-drilling them. Maybe someone else here can comment.
An option might be to mark on the Rib J attach bracket where the top leg bracket matches up and have someone make you a new bracket but where the holes in Rib J match the new bracket.

Hopefully, if the holes dont match up, filling with mil fiber and re-drilling will be OK. I'm just not sure. I know some of the Wheeler service notes and instruction addendums had instructions to fill smaller holes with mil fiber and re-drill.
Joe Chisolm
Express CT builder
Marble Falls, Texas
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