FWIW I straightened a badly bent leg for someone and added a piece of
1.5x1.5x1/8 steel angle (from a bed frame) to the existing bolts to get
it home.
I also straightened a slightly bent one for someone and he flew the
rest of the season. I do use wood blocks in the press to avoid marking
the tube and a series of small straightening bends.
I'm not disagreeing with Wayne who has far more experience, but if it is
not too bent to fly and there are no visible cracks I personally would
not hesitate to fly it home as long as the safety cable is there and intact.
If replacing I'd consider 2024T3 tube instead of 6061T6.
As a side note, I've been doing some aluminum work on a building and it
is scary how fast I can cut a 10 foot length of .023 aluminum just by
scoring it with a box cutter and bending it. They really mean it when
they say to make sure we smooth out nicks and scratches on our aluminum
parts. I remember spending a bit of effort smoothing those stab strut
fork ends as well. The inside of the slot was fairly rough as received.
Moisture in there and the inevitable fretting from small movements don't
help in service.
Ken
On 8/15/2011 6:00 PM, jessejenks@hotmail.com wrote:
No, I used what I got in the kit from you. If its standard tube I'll
get some from acs. Hopefully it doesn't snap before I can get it back
to my hangar/workshop which is 1000 miles away, and I don't have time
to deal with it until I'm done working for the season in October.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone
----- Reply message ----- From: "Wayne G.
O'Shea"<oifa@irishfield.on.ca> To:<rebel-builders@dcsol.com> Subject:
[rebel-builders] Re: [rebel-builders] Bent gear leg Date: Mon, Aug
15, 2011 12:38 pm
They bend once... then they snap! Most don't catch the bend first and
glad you did !
To be sure it's identical to what you have.. cut your own from 1.25 x
1.25 square x 0.125 6061-T6 tube, that you should be able to source
from someone there in the State.
That said.. didn't you build your own legs or was that someone else
I've got you mixed up with!?!
Wayne
----- Original Message ----- From:<jessejenks@hotmail.com>
To:<rebel-builders@dcsol.com> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 2:15 PM
Subject: [rebel-builders] Re: [rebel-builders] Bent gear leg
Ok, what is the best way to get parts these days? Bob P?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone
----- Reply message ----- From: "Wayne G.
O'Shea"<oifa@irishfield.on.ca> To:<rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Subject: [rebel-builders] Bent gear leg Date: Mon, Aug 15, 2011
10:27 am
Replace! (Sorry) ! ;O)
----- Original Message ----- From:<jessejenks@hotmail.com>
To:<rebel-builders@dcsol.com> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 12:09
PM Subject: [rebel-builders] Bent gear leg
I had a hard landing which bent a gear leg (bungee style with
die springs). I have been landing at some pretty challenging
spots in the Idaho backcountry while feeling out the short/rough
capabilities of the Rebel. Well I guess I found the edge of the
envelope: I put her down on a 700' rough rocky strip with trees,
at 4,000' elevation. I knew I had to plant it right on the end,
and plant it I did. I was already aware of the tendency of that
wing to maintain its rate of decent in the flare regardless of
increasing aoa. I knew I would need to add power to arrest the
descent, but I guess the shortness of the strip influenced my
reflexes. Anyway, I hit pretty hard. I looked it over really
good, and then went fishing. Only after really getting down on
the ground and looking carefully, a week later, did I notice a
bent gear leg. Has anyone had success with trying to straighten
one, or will I need to replace it? I was thinking I could put it
in a press with some blocks of wood and tweak it back into shape.
Seems like it will be a pain to replace..will have to basically
take the whole gear assembly apart. Anyway, I will probably keep
flying for the rest of the summer. Some 29" bushwheels will be on
my shopping list if I'm going to do any more strips like that,
and VGs. Will VGs help with the "falling out of the sky"
characteristic? Doesn't seem like the best stol airfoil, maybe
that's why Angus came up with the LE cuff. As someone said
...sto...but not L. Seems like it needs more flap too. If you
look a Twin Otter which I think has the same airfoil, it has a
ton of flap. It still falls out from under you if you're not
carefull though. I have often wondered why Dehav. used that
airfoil, and I guess it can be used to a pilots advantage in
precise touchdown control with no float, but with a plane like
the twotter you can flare it a lot more....and the gear is
really, really tough....I know.
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