| Author | Message | ||
     Ted Gaston Unregistered guest |
Bennie, I didn't read your post closely enough the first time so lets try this. With the wing upside down in the jig and level at the underside of the spar cap, set the clamps so the flat face where the spindle attaches is set to 83 degrees. The bottom end ( when wing is right side up) of the gear leg is tilted toward the inboard end of the wing. This compensates for the 5 degrees of diheadrahl and 1.5 degrees of gear flex when empty. My previous post still applies regarding the skid plates. | ||
| Kevin Dennes New member Username: Kdennes Post Number: 66 Registered: 01-2001 |
I would appreciate some help from any of the owners of a 2000 series with the Lycoming engine please. I need to know the straight line measurement from the lower front of the nose wheel strut fairing to the point at where it meets up with the lower engine cowl. If you haven't actually installed the fairings yet, perhaps you could simply measure the straight line measurement from the bottom front edge to the top front edge of the part please. As always I will be grateful for any help. Kevin (from Downunder) | ||
| tom ware New member Username: Tommie Post Number: 20 Registered: 06-2000 |
can anyone give me simple proceedure for installing the landing gear brackets correctly in the wings ,while they are still open. | ||
| Kevin Dennes New member Username: Kdennes Post Number: 82 Registered: 01-2001 |
Tom. I am not sure what you are exactly looking for. I installed mine in the 2000 exactly according to the instruction manual that Larry sent me and it worked out perfectly in the final product. I actually did the alignment check on our aircraft yesterday and both wheels are totally symetrical with the centre line (with about 1.5 degrees toe-in). Regards. Kevin (from Downunder) | ||
| Charles M. Robinson New member Username: F15epilot Post Number: 12 Registered: 02-2004 |
Nose Gear/Rudder Pedal Support Bracket Question I just returned from a week-long build session on my Auriga (#14) at SSI. Hoped to get it ready for first flight, but have motor issues (previous owner is working those--worst case is swapping out the existing 540-C4B5 for the -K1A5 sitting in the hangar). While crawling around under the dash of my Auriga and his CT and FT (he built those before acquiring the Auriga kit), I noticed something missing in the Auriga: the nose gear and rudder pedal support housing (see photo uploaded). Both of his other planes have the whole support bracket, modified with the access doors per the service bulletin. The Auriga kit I'm finishing only has the portion of the bracked attached to the floor and firewall (about 3 inches tall across the floor; angled at the junction with the firewall and tapering to 2 inches up to the top of the firewall where it again angles to meet the top of the fuselage). The rudder pedals previously installed are from a C-type aircraft (dual brake capability; narrower than the Express versions). These pedals mount to the floor vs. the firewall, and don't require the cable pulleys normally mounted on the missing part of the support bracket. I'm guessing the missing part of the bracket was intentionally omited since it was not needed to hold the rudder pedal pulleys. When I asked the previous owner, he said that the support was there because previous version of the Express mounted the nose gear to that area of the fuselage vs. the motor mount. His opinion was that since the nose gear is attached to the motor mount, and that the motor mount distributes the load around the edges of the firewall near the fuselage junction, the lack of the entire rudder pedal bracket would not significantly affect structural performance. I've searched the archives to see if this was an Auriga-specific change to the design, but I found no reference to the topic. My question, then, is if anyone knows the impact of not having the entire bracked? Fabricating and installing side and front portions to reinforce the existing part of the bracket would be difficult, albeit better than having the nose/firewall collapse. Any suggestions from the group will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Chuck  | ||
| jharlow Unregistered guest |
The only changes made to the Express design was adding 2 doors,increasing the cross sectional area prior to the tail for increased stiffness, lowering the horz to conventional location and increasing the amount of horz tail area. My Auriga was buildt per the Wheeler manual with a Auriga fuselage top. I also installed rudder pedal assy from a Cessna which mounted to the floor. There was never any Auriga group changes made to the lower fuselage design. You are on your own if you make changes. | ||
| Brian McKinney New member Username: Bmckinney Post Number: 55 Registered: 05-2000 |
I have an Auriga kit too. Most new Express kits have only 1/2 of the "tower" that holds the rudder pedal assembly. See picture from the current Express manual below.  It goes from the floor up to the mounting area for the blocks that hold the rudder pedal tubes. That gives them more room behind the panel. The original Wheeler nose gear did use this tower for support, but as you mentioned, it now attaches to the motor mount. It sounds and looks like yours was cut quite a bit more than what they do now. | ||
| Brian McKinney New member Username: Bmckinney Post Number: 56 Registered: 05-2000 |
Sorry- - here's the picture from the manual  | ||
| Eric Holmberg New member Username: Erich Post Number: 87 Registered: 05-2002 |
Here's a picture from the factory dated June 2002 for your reference. In my Auriga kit, the landing gear is mounted to the firewall and the center column has been omitted and replaced with stiffeners where the engine mount is attached (i.e. on the bottom left and bottom right of the center column).  | ||
| Charles M. Robinson New member Username: F15epilot Post Number: 13 Registered: 02-2004 |
All, Thanks for the responses. My kit sounds like Eric's in that there are stiffeners (rather large/thick) where the motor mounts are on the firewall. As what remains of the column in my plane is about the same as the seam line above the floor in Eric's photo, and would appear to be a stiffener running the length of the firewall, I believe I'll add a doubler to each side, angled outward from the top of the firewall to the base of the column. Thanks for the responses. Now to fix the shower of sparks... |