Airfoil Gear - Skydesigns vs ALG (Grove)?

[StickyTeflon]

I'm ready to pull the trigger on upgraded AL Airfoil landing gear (weight savings + aesthetics), but am having difficulty deciding between SkyDesigns and Aircraft Landing Gear. I understand ALG is now producing the original Grove gear now, but while Grove discontinued and before they took over, SkyDesigns started producing their own.

Does anyone know the difference between the two? I can't find any meaningful comparison write-ups, or side-by-side photos, etc. Even pricing is almost the exact same, and I haven't seen a single bad (or even neutral) review of either - everyone seems to love them both.

Anybody have some insight? Thanks!

RV-8 Aluminum Airfoil Landing Gear Kit | skydesigns

www.skydesigns.aero

RV-8 RV-14 - Landing Gear Corp. (LGC)

Now available- RV-8 air-foiled machined Aluminum landing gear, standard features include 3-d machined airfoiled and gun drilled brake lines. Significant […]

aircraftlandinggear.com

 

[Quotafiller]

samesies

 

[rv8ch]

I have the Grove gear, and it works great. If I were buying today, I'd buy the Skydesigns solution just cuz Ken is a good guy.

 

[TS Flightlines]

I have the Grove gear, and it works great. If I were buying today, I'd buy the Skydesigns solution just cuz Ken is a good guy.

WE recently acquired an LGC RV14A gear leg for mock up purposes. Its a 'demo version'; we are using it to do mockups for Beringer installs. We 'borrowed' an axle and caliper from Beringer, to play with, and will have them at our booth at Oshkosh. Booths 947-949 in the LSA area. Same spots as always, but with a different look this year!

 

[Laird]

+1 for Sky Designs. Nice product and Ken is a good guy, and the chief designer of the RV-8, so he understands the loads very well.

Here's mine as when I was working on the wheel pants

 

[Sky Designs]

I'm ready to pull the trigger on upgraded AL Airfoil landing gear (weight savings + aesthetics), but am having difficulty deciding between SkyDesigns and Aircraft Landing Gear. I understand ALG is now producing the original Grove gear now, but while Grove discontinued and before they took over, SkyDesigns started producing their own.

Does anyone know the difference between the two? I can't find any meaningful comparison write-ups, or side-by-side photos, etc. Even pricing is almost the exact same, and I haven't seen a single bad (or even neutral) review of either - everyone seems to love them both.

Anybody have some insight? Thanks!

RV-8 Aluminum Airfoil Landing Gear Kit | skydesigns

www.skydesigns.aero

RV-8 RV-14 - Landing Gear Corp. (LGC)

Now available- RV-8 air-foiled machined Aluminum landing gear, standard features include 3-d machined airfoiled and gun drilled brake lines. Significant […]

aircraftlandinggear.com

Hi Sticky! A couple of summers ago when ocean-crossing rock-star Hermann Schiele (a.k.a. Super Cub Driver) dropped-into our Anacortes hangar with his Grove equipped RV-8, we snapped the attached side-by-side photo. Functionally the same but there is a subtle difference in cross section between the two.

The Sky Designs leg uses straight-thread O-Ring Boss (ORB) fluid fittings rather than tapered-thread AN fluid fittings - see attached photo. Because the O-ring is the seal, these can be clocked to any orientation whereas AN fittings need to be torqued to seal well and the "ideal" clocking doesn't always occur at the "ideal" torque. David Howe (a.k.a. HFS) was the impetus for this.

FWIW, 12-point NAS1804-6 nuts are included in the SD kit. This will make Steve Smith (a.k.a. scsmith) smile. Kits are on the shelf and ready to ship.

 

[scsmith]

The comparison picture posted by Ken shows that the Sky Designs gear has a complete airfoil cross section. The Grove gear is rounded on the front, wedge shaped on the back, and flat in the middle.

 

[StickyTeflon]

Hi Sticky! A couple of summers ago when ocean-crossing rock-star Hermann Schiele (a.k.a. Super Cub Driver) dropped-into our Anacortes hangar with his Grove equipped RV-8, we snapped the attached side-by-side photo. Functionally the same but there is a subtle difference in cross section between the two.

The Sky Designs leg uses straight-thread O-Ring Boss (ORB) fluid fittings rather than tapered-thread AN fluid fittings - see attached photo. Because the O-ring is the seal, these can be clocked to any orientation whereas AN fittings need to be torqued to seal well and the "ideal" clocking doesn't always occur at the "ideal" torque. David Howe (a.k.a. HFS) was the impetus for this.

FWIW, 12-point NAS1804-6 nuts are included in the SD kit. This will make Steve Smith (a.k.a. scsmith) smile. Kits are on the shelf and ready to ship.

That comparison pic is EXACTLY what I've been looking for, and the notes are exactly what I needed to make a decision - thank you!

This thread quickly sold me on the Sky Designs, thank you everyone.