Grove gear

I've got them, but you are showing an A model in your signature. I didn't know they did gear for the A.

If you chose to go with the taildragger, Grove has the RV8 gear in a single-piece unit which would be much stronger than the two piece, tho a bit heavier. Much lighter than the standard steel gear, I'm sure.
 
8 / 8A : who knows?!!

Hi Mickey, I was just searching your site for any info on the rear seat air vent thingy in the right wing, but didn't find anything?

Re: the grove gear - I know its for the taildragger only. We're half way through the wings and while we originally planned for the tri-gear, we're trending very much towards the taildragger. Makes no odds to me flying wise, since I don't have a license yet. The flying club at the parachute DZ where I instruct have a Cessna 150 taildragger I can learn on if I choose to go that way. We need to make this decision before we order the fuselage, and there's a lot of considerations, but we're almost definitely going to lose one of the main wheels! Almost. :)

Cheers,
 
rv8ch said:
Grove has the RV8 gear in a single-piece unit which would be much stronger than the two piece, tho a bit heavier.
Click to expand...

Is there a strength issue with the two piece gear? I hadn't heard anything...?

Thomas
 
TShort said:
Is there a strength issue with the two piece gear? I hadn't heard anything...?

Thomas
Click to expand...

No strength issue. Just that the one piece, being one piece, does not transmit as much side loading to the gear towers, which tend to fail first when subjected to major side loads (ie: ground loop).

I have the two piece non-airfoil. Wanted the full 17lb weight reduction.
 
I'm considering the 2 piece airfoil gear myself. Does anyone recall the "credit" Van's gives you for deleting the standard gear from the kit?

--Ken
 
It's around 650$ or so...
U-801-L-PC and U-801-R-PC (gear legs) 295$ each
Two each of these brackets (U-803-PC and U-804-PC) for 35.86 and 32.10 (those are the prices for two of each).

That's all I deleted; I don't have the Grove gear, so I don't know if there is more that can be deleted. Probably some bolts, etc but that is minimal cost.

Thomas
 
DELETED

Yes you delete, gear legs, brackets, and bolts. You keep the wear plates. Grove will send you new brackets and bolts with the gear.
 
Grove's gear sure are purty!

My hangar mate has the polished chrome Grove gear on his -8 and they are gorgeous! I have heard you avoid issues with fiberglass cracking with these gear legs as well.
 
I worked at Grove for 1 year and cut many 2 piece RV-8 gear out of aluminum plate(not a fun job). I can tell you that these airfoiled gear have a LOT of work put into them. First someone cuts the blanks out of 4'x12' sheet of aluminum, then a CNC mill cuts the rough airfoil shape. The gear is gundrilled and bent, and finally someone takes a very large/heavy grinder and hand grinds the final airfoil shape into the gear. Not easy at all and you know Robbie will have your *** if you ruin one of those fine pieces of metal :D
 
I have one of the first sets of airfoil gear. My 8 first flew in Oct. '02, and has 350 hours on it now...no problems at all with the gear. Of course, I always land like a feather so I havn't stressed it at all :D
 
Picture

Does anyone have a pic of the airfoil gear unpainted (polished) on an -8? I think I've seen one before but not sure. Would like to get a better look. Not having to do farings would be great. Being ~11 lbs lighter would be great. It costing ~$1000 more? Is it worth it? I'd be interested in seeing what a polished set of these look like on a painted plane with painted wheelpants.???

Thanks,
Josh
 
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