Gear leg slop- how much is OK?

[Hartstoc]

I recently jacked up my 7A to send the main wheels to Aerosplat for the bearing upgrade and spin balance(I was thrilled with the job they did on my nose wheel a few months ago). The bird is exceptionally well built but others put the first few hundred hours on the airframe.

Gently levering the gearlegs up, down, and around revealed roughly 3/32”-1/8” of free travel uniformly on both sides, and a lesser amount of rotational freedom of movement measured at the tip of the axel.

I’ll definitely be removing and inspecting the retaining bolts, and replacing or oversizing them if needed to eliminate rotational play as this alters axel alignment. I can also insert and secure some stainless steel shims made from feeler guages between the gear legs and lower socket openings to reduce free play.

Given that the sockets are cylindrical and not tapered, I expect that some free play when unloaded is normal, but I was wondering how my observations compare with others, and what sort of limits may have been established or recommended. I’m actually surprised that the main gearlegs are not retained into a tapered socket by bolts threaded axially into the ends of the gear legs, but that is probably because threads could not survive the heat-treatment process.

Any comments or shared experiences would be appreciated.- Otis

[bruceh]

I don't think there should be any slop. The first time I inserted my main gear legs into the weldments to check the fit and do the match drilling, the powdercoating on the leg was too thick to even get them in all the way. I had to scrape off the powdercoating and then it was still extremely snug fit between the weldment and the gear leg.

[Raymo]

Inspecting/replacing the bolts as needed is a good first step. I plan to install a close-tolerance bolt (available from ACS) in my nose gear leg at next CI to help with the same issue.

[Hartstoc]

Originally Posted by bruceh

I don't think there should be any slop. The first time I inserted my main gear legs into the weldments to check the fit and do the match drilling, the powdercoating on the leg was too thick to even get them in all the way. I had to scrape off the powdercoating and then it was still extremely snug fit between the weldment and the gear leg.

Interesting- maybe I should consider having my gear legs powder-coated!

[wjb]

On my -7, the fit was quite tight (no power coat issues). Lots of banging with a dead-blow hammer to get the gear into the engine mount. On my bird, it was a snug snug fit (I'm happy abt that, btw)