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Taxi technique to protect the nose gear?

JFCRV12

Well Known Member
Curious on typical taxi RPM for folks on concrete?

I'm usually taxi around 2250rpm as I'm typically waiting for oil to get to 120F. I know to hold stick back at all times. The taxi way parallel to the runway at my airport has these horizontal seams every what feels like every 30-50 feet (runway is 5500). And you feel each crack on the nosewheel. Not horribly, but it's noticeable (like expansion joints on a bridge when driving). Do folks 'wheelie' while taxi'ing. Feels a bit fast and reckless, but it would protect the nose gear :)

I'm asking as this weekend during preflight, I found what 'may' be a crack at the top of my nose gear (see pic). Not 100% sure if it's just the paint or an actual crack. Well 'may be a crack' was good enough for me to do the Nose Gear Leg SB as I had the part already. So now it's done (yay!).

I bought the plane with 60hrs and I've put on about 70hrs. I've really babied the nosewheel on all landings with zero 'bouncers'. I'll admit I've had 1 or 2 less then graceful landings on the mains, but nothing of any consequence on the nose gear. Always a light/feather let down. 100% of my landings have been on concrete. I already feel like I treat it like a 'taxi gear leg' only. It's possible that the start of the cracking was done in the 1st 60 hrs and I just hadn't noticed or it hadn't manifested itself yet.

Bottom line: I'm trying to understand what could have caused the potential crack and what adjustments to my technique I can make to baby the new nose gear as much as possible. (Although it's certainly beefier with extra welds and a re-enforcement tube inside the upper bend of the gear leg).
 

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it's important to know if that is a true crack so it gets reported to Van's. I suggest you clean paint from the area and have a close look with magnification. If in doubt, dye penetrant will highlight the crack.

Please report your findings...

To address your question about taxiing - nose gear is very robust and will not be compromised by large cracks in pavement.
 
it's important to know if that is a true crack so it gets reported to Van's. I suggest you clean paint from the area and have a close look with magnification. If in doubt, dye penetrant will highlight the crack.

Please report your findings...

To address your question about taxiing - nose gear is very robust and will not be compromised by large cracks in pavement.

Thank you sir. Yes, I definitely plan to find out for sure. To be honest, I just set it aside and started working on installing new one. I haven’t given it a good look yet. But it’s on my list. I will certainly report back when known.
 
Confirmed: It's a crack

Forgot to snap a new picture today, but I showed the old leg to my A&P/IA today and we're pretty darn sure it's a crack just by looking at it. We did not use penetrating dye to double confirm. Basically, up close it really looks like it's pulling away from the bottom plate.

Linked here is a quick video from yesterday. The lower 'ring/crack' is simply a paint line after inspection. But the top part right against the bottom plate is where the crack is.

Luckily, my replacement gear leg doesn't seem to be out of whack as mentioned in an earlier thread. My bottom plate laid flat no problem. And my matched drilled holes look even. I've attached a pic before deburring. It's not a great pic but you get the gist. Attaching the gear leg was a non event really. I haven't taxi'd on it yet to confirm all is good b/c I need (ordered) an extra Adel clamp for the radiator hose as it no longer attaches via one clamp directly to the gear leg. Two are used.

Regarding reporting, does Van's really need/want a report? I mean I'd guess they're already aware given the SB.

Thanks
John
 

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You bought this plane from Yuba City Youth Services, where the plane was built and flown by kids, before being sold off, for the money to build another plane, to get kids interested in Aviation.

There are no guarantees as to how soft or hard the kids landed that plane with the instructor, or whether it came down hard or even had a wheelbarrow landing. We know the input at the stick on a RV-12 is definitely sporty, it's not at all like pulling on the yoke on a Cessna 172. Kids are used to joy sticks and video games, in terms of input and results. A RV-12 with too much input would be less forgiving.


With that in mind, just get the new front landing gear installed, and chalk it up to a few builders getting their reward and flying what they completed and built, as part of the learning curve. If you're being gentle on the mains, then the front should be a non issue... Especially taxiing.
 
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Thanks everyone!

Yep, this was a teen build. And boy did they do an outstanding job. :) I’m not sure if they actually were doing much in the way of landings. At least none got there PPL or SPL in the airplane. Who knows? But it doesn’t matter really. The main councilor and first flight pilot is a southwest pilot and muiti-time RV12 builder. In fact he ferried it from CA to OH. The other leader is a Fedex pilot. They certainly know what they’re doing.

Either way, no biggie at all. Spotted it and fixed it for nothing more then a day’s work and a couple hundred dollars. Can’t do that in a certified plane!
 
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Thanks everyone!

Yep, this was a teen build. And boy did they do an outstanding job. :) I’m not sure if they actually were doing much in the way of landings. At least none got there PPL or SPL in the airplane. Who knows? But it doesn’t matter really. The main councilor and first flight pilot is a southwest pilot and muiti-time RV12 builder. In fact he ferried it from CA to OH. The other leader is a Fedex pilot. They certainly know what they’re doing.

Either way, no biggie at all. Spotted it and fixed it for nothing more then a day’s work and a couple hundred dollars. Can’t do that in a certified plane!

Exactly! Affordable to work on and fly, if you are needing to watch airplane ownership expenses.
 
Noticed your nose gear came in a wooden crate. Mine came in a cardboard box that was totally damaged at one end with the nose fork end sticking out of the box. I will double check to see if it is at the correct angle that others have had problems with.
 
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