Aligning and Shiming -8 Grove Gear

[claycookiemonster]

The Grove legs are installed and torqued. Now comes the fun part; aligning.
It strikes me that there are several chances to do this.

We can align the gear legs before any other hardware is installed, so bolt angles to the bare legs and get a sense of what we may be dealing with.

Or, we could install the axles and align them.

We could install the rest of the wheel and brake assembly and try to align the wheels themselves.

Finally, it sounds like I could just bolt all this on, and see how the wheels roll and align that.

In the context of building an airplane, shims costing less than $30 won't break the band, but how do you translate some deviation in inches from perfectly straight into an angle that a shim can correct?

And, of course, it's not just aligning the wheels to each other, we need to align them to the fuselage centerline.

It's just like my father, Dan Rosanna-Danna said...

 

[rv8ch]

No comment on the alignment, but this is the moment to install jack points if you plan to.

https://flyboyaccessories.com/product/rv-jack-points-rv-8

I bought a set but have not yet installed them.

 

[RV8JD]

Or check out Ken Kreuger’s jack point kit:

https://www.skydesigns.aero/products

 

[sjhurlbut]

The Grove legs are installed and torqued. Now comes the fun part; aligning.
It strikes me that there are several chances to do this.

We can align the gear legs before any other hardware is installed, so bolt angles to the bare legs and get a sense of what we may be dealing with.

Thats what I did. Clamped large levels to each gear leg and run a plumb bob off each end of the level. Measure to centre of fuselage. You'll prob be surprised how close it is. I added 1/4 degree shims to mine. Very slight toe out is preferred.

 

[claycookiemonster]

Thanks. One other point.

Since we're only speaking of either Toe-in, or Toe-out here, I assume we ignore other axes? We don't care about TOP in or out?

Is is safe to assume that the gear leg material will maintain the Toe-in or Toe-out we set as the airframe is filled and gets heavier?

My engine is not here yet, and obviously it will make a huge difference in gear geometry when it is hung, but I assume that would be in the Top-in/out axis. I can assume that it will not change the Toe-in/out angles I set now, or should I put off this whole exercise until I reach my final flying weight?

 

[Foghorn]

Clay,

Grove has a calculator and instruction for figuring out what you need.

https://www.groveaircraft.com/accessories.html

 

[rv8ch]

Or check out Ken Kreuger’s jack point kit:

https://www.skydesigns.aero/products

Those look nice! And much less expensive.

 

[claycookiemonster]

Thank you for that Grove calculator! Exactly what I was looking for.