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New "A" Nose Gear - Should I Update?
So we saw the New "A" Nose gear at Oshkosh. I'm building an RV-9A and have the original (currently uninstalled) firewall forward Lycoming Dynafocal mount and original gear leg.
The Van's salesman said that the cost of the new A mount was approx. $4200 retrofit/$3900 if original was never mounted. So,,,, -Should I update to the new "A" mount? -Is the original mount/leg that prone to damage or shimmy, that I should update? -What are builders thinking about this new option? Andy C. |
I know of one person waiting for someone to upgrade as he is looking for a budget friendly front mount/nose gear.
In my view it all depends on maybe safety margin. The stock works and has for years, very simple. The new probably can absorb a few more not so good landings though. |
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In my discussions with a Vans rep, he said the best time to install the new style mount/gear is when the initial engine mount has been mounted to the airframe. It can be retrofit to completed planes, BUT each engine mount comes out just enough different after the welding process that cowl work likely would need to be done. This could a little work or a lot of work to match up up the cowl to fuselage. That means possibly repainting the cowl.
Apparently, even with using the same engine mount jig for the metal tubes, you can't predict exactly how much the tubing could change or deform after the welding process. I've considered it for my flying and nicely painted RV-7A, but I'm comfortable with the original design as it has served me well for the past 14 years, 1450+ hrs. and 900+ landings. |
I talked to one of the Vans Representatives at the booth and said I was on the fence about putting in the new nose gear. Since I have my mount drilled and my cowling all set where the current mount is he said if it was his plane he wouldn't do it. I have decided I'm not going to spend that money and upgrade. To me that's a crazy amount of money for what I saw that part looks like. I know it's a better nose gear but I have seen some of the places that Vlad has landed with the current nose gear.
As far as resale goes I don't plan on selling my plane so that doesn't even enter my mind right now. To know how much it's worth you would have to have two exact planes side by side for sale with different nose gear to see how much resale is going to be affected. Will the original nose gear plane sell for $5000 miles or $10000 less? Who knows. I am going to put the anti splat device on my original nose gear and be careful. Right or wrong this is how I'm going about it. |
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If it were me...
Take that $3900, purchase some extra 100LL and practice a bunch of nose-high landings at near stall speed. With proper technique, the standard nose gear will serve you just fine, and you'll have a lighter & simpler aircraft. As for shimmy, make sure your wheels/tires are balanced, you have proper break-out force on the nose gear, and consider adding the wooden vibration dampers during the build. |
I went back and forth on this too, but having just started the cowl fitting process I decided it was worth it for me to pull the trigger now.
It's a lot of money, but also some piece of mind for me too and if I ever do sell it can't hurt. I too will have a mount and gear for sale once the new parts are available. I also have a brand new Anti-splat that'll I'll be selling at that time (the version with their fairing). Supposedly, I am first or close to first on the upgrade list and am local so I'll be running over and picking it up as soon as I get the call. I'll share lots of pics when I get to that point too. dan |
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