RV-8 gear leg postion
UH60Hwkdrvr said:
Hi all, I am a newb and have a question. I have searched the online forum looking for the answer, but have been unable to find the info I am looking for.
I am sure this has been asked before: Why doesn't the RV-8 have swept gear like the others? I know that the designer placed the gear where they are located for a reason. However, what is that reason and has anyone ever modified the design for swept gear? I sure do like the looks of the swept gear on the other series.
TIA,Michael
Great question. Easy answer is CG. Early RV's (all tail draggers) had the main gear come out of the engine mount. It had the advantage of having the engine and gear all off of one "hard point" the firewall. The swept was needed to get the gear in the right postion for CG reasons, i.e., it would not tip on nose or be too tail heavy.
Than the "A" models came along. So the engine mount would not do so Van went to mount the gear off the wing spar. Again not quite right for CG Van swept the gear a little. Of course the nose gear was off the engine mount and was radical swept forward to position the wheel.
The RV-8 "A" model is the same as other RV "A" models, but the taildragger used Gear Tower structure in the cockpit, which is what I think your are talking about. This gear tower put the gear at the right postion and allowed straight gear. Not only that Van went away from the tapered rod gear to a flat spring gear. This has some advantages and the gear tire alignment is better and less likely to shimmy. However a flat gear leg needs to be straight and not swept. The down side is more structure to make a "hard point" for the gear, the towers. WHY????
Well Van made the RV-8, no doubt by looking at the RV-4 better. One big change was CG control and baggage. The forward and Aft baggage compartment is ideal for this. It gave more leg room. Both needed improvements over the RV-4. The down side was sweeping the main gear off the engine mount was no longer really possible or practical. THIS LAST STATEMENT OF MINE IS MY GUESS. That's my theory. It may have been possible to do the swept gear from the engine mount but may have been marginal. Too much sweep would also look bad and not work well. Also Van planned on using a bigger and heavier engine than any other RV's before, which changed the position of the wing. With all the changes and tradeoffs, I'm guessing Van felt the trade off of making dedicated gear mount towers was worth it or even a must.
As far as the LOOKS. I think the RV-8 taildragger gear looks like a eagles claws and talons extend straight out for landing or to attack prey.
The other taildragger RV's look like they are cruising
