| Author | Message | ||
     ali moghaddas New member Username: Amoghadd Post Number: 14 Registered: 09-2003 |
Here is the outboard rib reinforcement  | ||
| Steve Bussey New member Username: Geosync Post Number: 6 Registered: 01-2003 |
I have 80 hours on my fiberglass gear. Larry gave me a procedure to add 4 layers of uni to the inside of the gear, then spiral wrap bid around the gear so that you end up with 2 layers in the overlap. I also wrapped two layers around the bottom of the gear, for extra strength at the axel attach points. I then added more layers of bid to set the camber and toe in. I also installed a heatshield by the brakes, similar to one my friends installed on their Long EZ. During gross weight testing (3000 pounds was as high as I went), the gear/wheels moved outboard an inch or two, and I had excessive wear on the inside of the tires. I have since installed a phenolic spacer between the gear leg and its attach bracket (as Larry had originally suggested). This changes the camber by bringing the wheels inboard a little, plus raises the plane a little as well. Since then I have not had unusual wear on the tires, but my flying has been well below gross. I think that if you set the camber for your typical mission, tire wear may not be much of a problem, and the springiness of the gear may absorb some stress during landing. Larry had told me setting the toe in and camber on the glass gear was time consuming. That and the higher gross weight with the aluminum gear was why he changed. By then, the glamour of spending more money to replace parts in my then non-flying plane had wore thin, so I stayed with what I had. | ||
| Joe Chisolm New member Username: Jchisolm Post Number: 5 Registered: 11-2001 |
All, I have the original Wheeler gear attach hardware and also have the mounting hardware supplied by Larry for his glass gear. It was my understanding that the Al gear would work with the glass gear attach points. Anyone know if this is correct? | ||
| Jim Butler Unregistered guest |
Joe, When I changed from the glass gear to the aluminum gear, the new gear bolted right into the same brackets, etc. as the glass gear. Jim | ||
| Gary Markwardt New member Username: Gmark Post Number: 22 Registered: 12-1999 |
Joe: same for me although I had to increase the thickness of the rubber pad to compensate for the thinner cross section of the Al gear at the bracket that surrounds the gear. Otherwise, I used the same attaching bracketry. Jim: Did you do any additional reinforcing as suggested by Ted above? I did not and a close check at my last annual looked okay. Will be doing another annual shortly. Gary | ||
| Mark Rich New member Username: Mrich Post Number: 12 Registered: 01-2003 |
Gary, I have 200 hrs on the Alum gear with no reinforment. I had one landing bad enough to shear the hardened pin. I removed the gear and did a thorough inspection. No delamination or cracking around rib R, wing is fine. I thought about reinforcing the rib but now I don't think its imperative so I'm not going to bother. | ||
| Ted Gaston Unregistered guest |
I'm not sure if it was because 511EA got to bear the brunt of everyone’s first (Express) landings or just that the wing wasn't built all that well in the first place. But 511EA suffered at least 3 Rib R failures (that I know of)following the Aluminum gear installation. Once, I had to go to Orcas Island with Larry and we installed a splint on the wing, then Larry flew it back to OLY. When Rib R fails, it cracks in the corner of the cutout and the gear leg rotates Aft. This takes the whole outboard bracket assy. with it and causes the upper skin to delaminate from the Aft Shear Tie. So, it would be cheap insurance to do the reinforcement if the wing is still open. Just my $0.02 | ||
| Brian McKinney New member Username: Bmckinney Post Number: 67 Registered: 05-2000 |
Thanks for the info Ted. When I posted my original intent to put the steel plates on a few years ago, Larry emailed me offline to confirm that this was a good thing to do. He had mentioned that it might become a normal procedure for future kits. | ||
| Carter A. Smith New member Username: Carter_smith Post Number: 12 Registered: 07-2004 |
I have been following the Al vs glass gear discussion and want to ask your advice. I built my wings in August in builders assist at the factory. These are the old style wings but with all the upgrades including the Al gear. Before we closed the wings we reinforced the two inboard ribs with 6 layers of glass on each side per factory instruction. My question: Is this enough or should I add additional reinforcement? | ||
| Anonymous |
The reason that steel plates have been used to reenforce the outboard gear attachment are two fold. The hole through the rib is often cut much larger than it needs to be leaving only a thin sliver of fiberglass to hold the weight of the aircraft. More recent practice is to cut the hole only large enough to pass the gear leg through plus room for movement. In the past the hole was cut larger to allow access for wrenching on the inner attach point. Using a larger access panel through the skin between the attach points seems to be a much better solution. The second reason for the metal plate is that the fiberglass structure has some give in it. On a hard landing it allows the aluminum mounting blocks to spread a bit which pulls the hardened steel pin part way out of the block. When that happens the pin surface can be damaged and worst case bent. The steel "picture frame" around the hole holds the two aluminum blocks rigidly where they belong and keeps the pins fully engaged. |