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Gear Leg Stiffeners

crabandy

Well Known Member
My installation of the FlyBoy's wooden gear leg stiffeners. Only 1 flight and 4 landings but I really like them, much less springy and more of a conventional solid feel for landing and taxi.

First off having the airplane stay level for multiple days is a must, my airplane has never been more stable when jacked up and level, I really liked these boat jackstands:

https://www.scaffoldmart.com/marinemart/boxed-boat-stands/motor-boat-stands/motorboat-stand-24-35-

A dual plane Laser Level is also a must, plumb bobbed for the fuse center fore and aft and mirrored the laser overtop. I used an old door under the tail to project the laser level line on and drilled holes through to hold the strings. Super easy to repeat this consistently day after day.

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The stiffeners from flyboys really fit well out of the box, It would've taken me several hours and sessions to make them. Not to mention my table saw was holding the tail of my airplane up. No trimming needed, I bonded them to the gearlegs as directed and made sure they were in line with the stringlines.

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Since I was adding the stiffeners to a flying airplane with existing leg and intersection fairings I needed to make sure everything still fit with the stiffeners. After bonding the stiffeners to the gear legs I sanded them down flush to the gear leg and then a smidge more aft of the gear leg.

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Then a couple layers of glass tape at offset angles.

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I rough sanded the glass after curing to knock down the edges.
 
The gear leg fairings fit very snug over the stiffeners and glass, Much more secure than the hose clamp and tab via plans.

I added one screw on the inside of the upper gear leg and intersection fairing to hold everything in place. I drilled the hole through the intersection/gear leg fairing into the stiffener, I then upsized it to #19 and used tape on a 3/8 bit to countersink for the locknut.

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I roughed up the nut with a file and cleaned it with solvent. I waxed the #8 screw and area washer. I dabbed the hole and screw with epoxy/ flox and stuck it in place. I taped it in place.

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Screw removed after curing.

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Upper screw

I am far from an expert ,BUT if I understand correctly I think you may regret that screw ....the gear needs to be able to move fore and mostly aft independent of the fairing . Again not a criticism but a comment based on what might be a misunderstanding of that upper screw install,however when I was redoing my intersection fairings I got some very good advise to allow for that independence of movement AND to leave the back of that fairing ( part that extends down over gear leg ) open on the back to allow the gear leg fairing to flex backwards and actually protrude out thru that opening as necessary with the rearward flexing of the gear leg . If I have misunderstood please accept apologies in advance. BTW GREAT job on getting things " plumbed up "! Cheers. Stew
 
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I am far from an expert ,BUT if I understand correctly I think you may regret that screw ....the gear needs to be able to move fore and mostly aft independent of the fairing . Again not a criticism but a comment based on what might be a misunderstanding of that upper screw install,however when I was redoing my intersection fairings I got some very good advise to allow for that independence of movement AND to leave the back of that fairing ( part that extends down over gear leg ) open on the back to allow the gear keg fairing to flex backwards and actually protrude out thru that opening as necessary with the rearward flexing of the gear leg . If I have misunderstood please accept apologies in advance. BTW GREAT job on getting things " plumbed up "! Cheers. Stew

Stew,
Thanks for the insight. My best guess is the screw placement should still allow for the fairings to flex with the gear, it is a single point close to the gear leg fairing centerline only a couple inches lower than the socket in the motor mount. More like a hinge point than solid, Without the screw the leg fairing would have a tendency to slide out the back of the intersection fairing.
I have seen some iterations of the gear leg fairing fastened top and bottom that I’m sure will break.
I’m hoping mine will function OK, if not it’s only fiberglass. I’ll try to post more pics in a couple days.
 
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