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[rebel-builders] Die spring struts - Rebel

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Wayne G. O'Shea

[rebel-builders] Die spring struts - Rebel

Post by Wayne G. O'Shea » Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:21 am

Where I lost you is you saying you mounted the axles at 0 before the engine
was on....with no compression on the springs. You were to supply me with a
dimension from bolt to bolt when the wheel was perpendicular/axle parallel
to the ground while the fus bottom was also parallel to the ground. Based on
that dimension I made your struts shorter based on Eng calcs, past
experience and a little black magic! LOL. When you installed the struts
without an engine on they should have sat with the wheels tucked in. The 3/8
to 1/2 inch or so spring compression you see static is correct. That way
when you land the first G is suppressed this way without throwing you back
into the air. Some have built the struts preloaded from what ='s 1/2 to 1G
and they might as well have welded the gear legs solid since the tires are
then dependant to do the work instead.

The way I am reading your message you took the struts I built and then
drilled your axles in place to be Zero/parallel to the ground. If so this
would explain why the have positive camber when loaded.

Wayne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken" <klehman@albedo.net>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 7:59 PM
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] What to order with MAM rebel kit...

Hmmm Too soon to tell about tire wear for me. I've got about 130
landings on the 6 x 6 aircraft tires and haven't noticed any wear yet. I
haven't specifically looked but pretty sure I'd have noticed if one side
was wearing faster. So that is good and maybe what I have is perfect and
I don't know it yet!

Only thing I've noticed is that static I have about 1/2" of spring
compression which seems to be there all the time whether I stop going
forward or after pulling the plane backwards into the hangar. That does
result in noticeable positive camber ( top of wheels closer together
than bottom of wheels). To a critical eye the gear looks a bit saggy
with the wheels not vertical. Back before the engine was mounted I'm
pretty sure that with no spring compression, I mounted the axles at 0
camber (axle parallel to the ground).

The aircraft always sits level which I like. Some of the bungee gear
machines do not always sit level if the bungees have slacked off a bit.
Another good thing is that I have never bottomed out the springs despite
some ahhh "firm" arrivals and bouncing. The way I have set up the
Alaskan safety cables, it would be obvious if the springs came close to
bottoming.

I do I have a bit of toe out when in the 3 point atttitude and no
compression on the springs. Compression would increase the toe out which
is also desireable IMO as I've had no ground loop scares yet. My toe
out might tend to cancel any tendancy to wear the outside of the tire at
touchdown I suppose. So as I said, perhaps it is perfect and I just
don't know it yet ;)

Ken

Wayne G. O'Shea wrote:
Are you guys both telling me that your wheels, while tucked in during
flight, go past center/perpendicular and look squatted sitting static
after
a straight forward roll?

Makes no sense to me if you are as even my original set had my skis
sitting
perfectly flat and I've made every set of struts since an extra 1/4"
shorter
from what they were made at.

Also keep in mind that while touching down your are wearing the outside
edge
as it is...making them even shorter would expediate the side wear.

Wayne


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Patterson" <beep@sympatico.ca>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 5:38 PM
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] What to order with MAM rebel kit...



Hi Ken !

I agree with making the spring struts a bit shorter ! Mine leave the
wheels sloping, and the Dico/Carlyle tires wear quickly enough without
that ... and it would look a bit better when not loaded. :-)

Best to order the 2 extra stringers with the kit - shipping on
full length stringers is expensive !!! If you need them later,
just for stiffeners, have the factory cut them to 5 ft. lengths,
or so - it's a LOT cheaper to ship !

--
......bobp
http://www.prosumers.ca
http://bpatterson.qhealthbeauty.com
http://apatterson2.qhealthzone.com
-------------------------------orig.-------------------------
On Saturday 04 November 2006 04:20 pm, Ken wrote:

Just

the

bungee




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Ken

[rebel-builders] Die spring struts - Rebel

Post by Ken » Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:21 am

Wayne G. O'Shea wrote:
Where I lost you is you saying you mounted the axles at 0 before the engine
was on....with no compression on the springs. You were to supply me with a
dimension from bolt to bolt when the wheel was perpendicular/axle parallel
to the ground while the fus bottom was also parallel to the ground.
Yup I remember that. The axles were installed before I took the measure.
So I must indeed have the wheels tucked in a bit in flight then.
Based on
that dimension I made your struts shorter based on Eng calcs, past
experience and a little black magic! LOL. When you installed the struts
without an engine on they should have sat with the wheels tucked in. The 3/8
to 1/2 inch or so spring compression you see static is correct. That way
when you land the first G is suppressed this way without throwing you back
into the air. Some have built the struts preloaded from what ='s 1/2 to 1G
and they might as well have welded the gear legs solid since the tires are
then dependant to do the work instead.
Makes sense. I guess I'm remembering the axles parallel when I took the
measurement. And then it sat with the axles about parallel for a long
time while I installed the engine without the wings on. So with a half
inch of spring compression, the struts would be a bit longer than when I
took the measurement which would be a bit of positive camber. Sounds
like all is normal :-)

Ken
snip



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Wayne G. O'Shea

[rebel-builders] Die spring struts - Rebel

Post by Wayne G. O'Shea » Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:21 am

I thought you might just be a memory jog off! LOL

But I made the struts 5/8" shorter than your dimension so they should have
been tucked in before the engine went on and about Zero/tucked slightly
still after the engine install. Did they look this way (positive camber)
right off the bat or after you've landed it a couple times? Doesn't take
much of a main gear leg bend to throw them off. I've had to put the gear leg
on the table before to detect a bend that didn't look like much daylight
wise when placed curve up..but holding one end tight to the table when
flipped over gave over an inch off the table at the other. This bend will
angle the axle mounting without changing the distance from axle gusset to
wishbone anything significant.

If they really start to bother you Ken...when you go to amphibs we could
redrill/sleeve/weld a hole further up and cut the extra off the bottom.

Wayne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken" <klehman@albedo.net>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] Die spring struts - Rebel

Wayne G. O'Shea wrote:
Where I lost you is you saying you mounted the axles at 0 before the
engine
was on....with no compression on the springs. You were to supply me with a
dimension from bolt to bolt when the wheel was perpendicular/axle parallel
to the ground while the fus bottom was also parallel to the ground.
Yup I remember that. The axles were installed before I took the measure.
So I must indeed have the wheels tucked in a bit in flight then.
Based on
that dimension I made your struts shorter based on Eng calcs, past
experience and a little black magic! LOL. When you installed the struts
without an engine on they should have sat with the wheels tucked in. The
3/8
to 1/2 inch or so spring compression you see static is correct. That way
when you land the first G is suppressed this way without throwing you back
into the air. Some have built the struts preloaded from what ='s 1/2 to 1G
and they might as well have welded the gear legs solid since the tires are
then dependant to do the work instead.
Makes sense. I guess I'm remembering the axles parallel when I took the
measurement. And then it sat with the axles about parallel for a long
time while I installed the engine without the wings on. So with a half
inch of spring compression, the struts would be a bit longer than when I
took the measurement which would be a bit of positive camber. Sounds
like all is normal :-)

Ken
snip



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