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bulldogbuilder

I'm New Here
For those of you that read the July 2016 Sport Aviation/Experimenter, the article was edited from the original and vital info was left out.
The axles for the RV's are NOT hollow. Never have been. The landing gear (as supplied thru Vans) has a hole in the axle mounting pad area. This is what will holding the machine up. The "Z" bracket for the wheel pants is NOT drilled for this hole. You will have to do this yourself. It is conveniently located at the center intersection of the axle mounting bolts. (lower left picture). As I do not know for certain if model changes have been made over the years, the hole in the landing gear is the determining factor of the hole in the "Z" bracket. I drilled mine with the axle bolted on, and slowly opened the hole in the bracket to fit the hole in the gear leg.
The gear WILL grow OUTWARD.
If you have ever tried to remove the wheel pant with a flat tire, one will very quickly notice the lowest two screws are a bugger to remove. Hence the main reason for developing this idea.
Hope this helps someone-somewhere.
Ed
 
Welcome to VAF!

Ed, welcome to VAF:D

The axle in my 10 is hollow.

What model of RV are you talking about---------I suspect the 8, maybe?
 
Yes, the gear jack is for a RV-8 taildragger. I believe all the other RV's have tubular type gear legs.
The fact that the 10 has a hollow axle would allow the same principle to work.
Simply carry the "adapter" with you.
Where in the world could you possibly go that you could not find a scissor jack in the parking lot.

Cheers,

Ed
 
bulldogbuilder said:
Yes, the gear jack is for a RV-8 taildragger. I believe all the other RV's have tubular type gear legs.
The fact that the 10 has a hollow axle would allow the same principle to work.
Simply carry the "adapter" with you.
Where in the world could you possibly go that you could not find a scissor jack in the parking lot.

Cheers,

Ed
Click to expand...

My 7 has solid legs, but a tube axle welded on the end.
 
A bit of clarification: The axel stub may be hollow, but the mounting pad/block is the part that is being discussed. This would be the, roughly rectangular, block with the four mounting holes. My RV-8 is a solid block.
Lifting the airplane from the axle/nut side would be complicated by the wheel pant being in the way. And then the jack being in the way for tire removal.

If I were building today, I would have to think about drilling a hole in the axle mounting block to allow for a longer bolt to be used for lifting. Even a 1/2" would help, but not sure this would even be necessary. Ahhh, the joys of "Experimental".

Ed
 
bulldogbuilder said:
The axle stub may be hollow, but the mounting pad/block is the part that is being discussed. This would be the, roughly rectangular, block with the four mounting holes.

Ed
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the 8 is the only model to use the flat "Cessna" style gear.

All other models I know of use the round or "Whitman" style gear legs.

Possible exceptions are the 12, and 14---never seen the naked landing gear on them to know for sure.
 
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bulldogbuilder said:
A bit of clarification: The axel stub may be hollow, but the mounting pad/block is the part that is being discussed. This would be the, roughly rectangular, block with the four mounting holes. My RV-8 is a solid block.
Lifting the airplane from the axle/nut side would be complicated by the wheel pant being in the way. And then the jack being in the way for tire removal.

If I were building today, I would have to think about drilling a hole in the axle mounting block to allow for a longer bolt to be used for lifting. Even a 1/2" would help, but not sure this would even be necessary. Ahhh, the joys of "Experimental".

Ed
Click to expand...

Ed, I read the article and see what you are talking about. The short engagement of that bolt could allow it to slip out. One might consider threading that gear and it won't slip out. No claims of bending though. :rolleyes:
 
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