| Author | Message | ||
     Rob Jordan |
My old manual does not seem to describe the method of aligning the wheels. how do you make adjustments on the fiberglass gear? | ||
| wayne |
Shims(expensive) or sand/mill the axle face, I made up a slide to hold the axle and used my 6x48 stationary belt sander. To aligne, drop a plumb line from the C/L of the fuse at the FW and tail to the floor, snap a chalk line. bunge strap a staight edge to the outside of the wheel, level. a1x1x48 alun tube or hard wood works good. measure the distance from the ends of the sticks to the CL chalk line.. The difference = your toe in or toe out or if both wheels are tracking the same way,(bad) I have about 3/8" of toein each side for what that's worth. Before you start the process pull the plane forward 8-10 feet first to set the gear. Then it's put the axles on/off trimm try again. It will take you a day. I also fit the axles so with the plane empty the tops of the wheels are out when veiwed from the front or back, that way they are more apted to be vertical when loaded. Have fun.. | ||
| LOUIE LACY (Llacy) |
After aligning the wheels buy yourself a cheap set of tires and check the wear pattern readjust the alignment and buy new good tires Lou llacy311@tds.net | ||
| jharlow |
I used Cessna shims and at first I needed 10 deg on each wheel, after about a year I found that the gear had taken a set and I am now down to 5 deg on each side. The Cessna shims also allow for toe in and out. I purchased mine used at a salvage yard. Bob Kaz also found his glass gear to do the same thing. John | ||
| stan susman New member Username: Stanpfa Post Number: 2 Registered: 01-2003 |
Looking for a set of the most resent fiberglass main gear legs. | ||
| Eric Holmberg New member Username: Erich Post Number: 47 Registered: 05-2002 |
Hi Stan, I have a set of unknown vintage that you are welcome to have for the shipping cost. If anyone has an idea of how to tell the difference between the different versions, let me know. -Eric | ||
| Brian McKinney New member Username: Bmckinney Post Number: 43 Registered: 05-2000 |
Eric, Since you have an Auriga, you probably have the Auriga versions. You should have some metal plates with a bunch of holes in them too. The Auriga legs do not have a rounded leading or training edge on them. The upper bend is fairly sharp too (that's why you need the steel plates). Here's mine with the plates glued on with Hysol & bolted with the plates.  There are a few other flying Express's using these with no problems. The EAC version (most recent) aren't quite as wide at the top, and have a larger radius at the upper and lower bend. I'm not sure about Wheeler fiberglass legs. I saw one set on a plane at Oshkosh a few years ago, but can't remember what they looked like. Brian | ||
| Eric Holmberg New member Username: Erich Post Number: 48 Registered: 05-2002 |
Brian, Thanks, my legs look just like yours. I'll dig around for the metal plates. I don't recall seeing them, but they might be hiding in a misc. box somewhere. -Eric | ||
| Bill Copeland New member Username: Cbros Post Number: 29 Registered: 09-1999 |
As far as I know there were only two sets of fiberglass gear legs made by Wheeler that worked. One set is installed on Jim Warner's airplane, (first bulilder completed example) and still working, and I believe the other set was installed on Ed Bernard's example. In any event if the "glass" legs you have are black (layed up carbon uni) condider them good for perhaps boat anchors or hockey sticks for short people. The Nor Cal builders tested one early on and it failed at a very low load. Bill C | ||
| Anonymous |
I had the glass legs on my airplane and changed them to the new aluminum legs. I am very happy with the new legs. The stance of the airplane look much better and the toe-in is perfect, without any hassle. I was always wary of the glass legs because the part where the axle attached looked thin to me, and I was always uncomfortable with the heat from the brakes. I would highly recommend using the new factory aluminum legs. Jim Butler |