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Leaving Nose Gear Fork Unpainted?

WJaviation

Active Member
Is this a bad idea? Ive seen some folks priming, but I've never seen a painted version?

If you all did prime/paint, do you have any regrets/ things youd change if you had to do it again?

Thanks
 
I thought everyone painted their fork...
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Since I used to use wheel pants I never got around to painting it. I left it bare aluminum. In AZ corrosion is not a big issue.
 
Ours is 10 years old now. No traces of corrosion on either the original nose fork that was removed a year or two ago, or the new one, neither of which were primed or painted. We do have wheel pants on (usually).
 
I primed then put about 5-6 coats of Plastidip on the forks of this aircraft, then used normal paint on the other -12. The plastidip has held up great over hundreds of hours. There are enough color choices to get a good match, and I can peel off and reapply when needed.
 

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There was a recent post on VAF where the fork had cracked, so I'd keep that in mind when selecting a coating so as not to hide any potential crack from early detection.
 
nose gear fork painted

I primed and painted my replacement fork. It looks just like Piper J3's photos. It seems to make no difference in how the parts fit together, so why not? In Florida bare aluminum has very little chance of remaining corrosion-free. I don't use wheel pants because I want to be able to keep an eye on tire and brake wear. So my original fork regularly got nicks and scratches that needed to be touched up, presumably from sand blown back by the prop.
 
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