gear leg stiffener

prkaye · #1 09-27-2009, 04:18 PM

I've been trying to come up with how I'm going to cut the radius lengthwise along a piece of wood so that it sits nicely agains the gear leg... I don't have a router. Any tips?

vlittle · #2 09-27-2009, 04:37 PM

Hi Phil, here's what I did.

Using a piece of wood moulding that is roughly tapered to the right shape of half an airfoil, I cut the nose at an angle on my table saw.

Then, I cut it in half transversely and glued the two halves together, forming a streamlined shaped with a "V" notch in the leading edge.

This V fits the round gear leg nicely. You can bond this on according to the instructions.

Vern

jsharkey · #3 09-27-2009, 05:21 PM

And if you don't have a table saw...

And in spite of having cut the parts months ago I have been flying for almost 20 hours now and still haven't fitted them - with no adverse results.

The gear is certainly "springy" which is very noticeable during start up and shut down as the engine runs through about 300/400 rpm and excites a torsional resonance of the whole plane on the gear - the famous "wet dog shake". Does anyone know if fitting the wooden dampeners reduces this?

Jim Sharkey
RV6 - Phase 1

CNEJR · #4 09-27-2009, 07:39 PM

954-829-2959.

aeroplane · #5 09-27-2009, 08:10 PM

You may not need the gear leg stiffeners, some do, some don't. I bought my 6A already flying (6 years ago) and the wheel hop was horrendous. About the only thing to keep the hop down was low pressure in the mains and slow taxi speeds. I had decided to install the stiffeners myself when one day I had the wheel pants off at inspection time and spun one of the wheels. I discovered that those cheapie tires I'd been using were about as round as a concrete block! I installed a pair of Michelins and the problem was solved. With them I can run 32psi without a hint of wheel hop. So try a pair of decent (round) tires before going to all that trouble.

gasman · #6 09-28-2009, 01:17 AM

I don't have any wood on mine........... No vibs at all. But I do use Good tires.

prkaye · #7 09-28-2009, 04:33 AM

Thanks for the pictures... I'm having trouble visualizing how these two pieces fit together over the gear leg..

Do the tires from vans qualify as "good tires"?

aeroplane · #8 09-28-2009, 05:03 AM

What kind are they?

prkaye · #9 09-28-2009, 05:16 AM

I'll have to go back and check what kind of tires Vans sent me.

Regardign the issue of whether to do stiffeners before or after first flight...

1) could the shimmy without stiffeners be dangerous and contribue to an accident? That would be a reason to want them on for test flying.

2) It seems to me that I won't be able to bond the stiffeners to the gear legs until I'm ready to align them properly... that means at teh hangar with the wings on. I'm waiting to align my gear leg fairnigs until then too... want a big space, flat floor and the plane fully assembled (so the weight spreads the gear properly). Is alignment of these stiffeners critical, or is there room to adjust the alignment of the fairings around the stiffeners? Alternatively could the stiffeners be temporarily strapped to teh gear legs during test flight, and only bonded later when I do final alignment of them and my fairings.

jsharkey · #10 09-28-2009, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prkaye

Thanks for the pictures... I'm having trouble visualizing how these two pieces fit together over the gear leg..

Do the tires from vans qualify as "good tires"?

You glue a pair of mirrored pieces to gether to form the tail of a tear drop shape that has a tappered V-groove at the front edge of it. This then nests over and bonds to the back edge of the leg before being overwrapped with fiberglass. It's all on the drawing and in the manual - mind you it is a bit cryptic.

Jim Sharkey