rough landings, and hopefully takeoffs too. I am close to building the gear,
and had planned on die springs. I want the most rugged gear possible. I must
admit that I have been skeptical of the aluminum tube gear, but it is
reported to be better than the spring gear. Too late for spring gear anyway,
my fuselage is done. I have thought on and off about having an all-steel
gear welded up to fit the mounting points on the fuselage. It could use die
springs and look like the standard gear, or perhaps be a totally different
suspension design. Something like the Wilga gear (trailing link) would be
cool. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Also, Wayne offers a double die-spring setup. Has anyone tried it? That
should give more travel, and theoretically help prevent bottoming.
Jesse
_________________________________________________________________From: Ken <klehman@albedo.net>
Reply-To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
To: rebel-builders@dcsol.com
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] Rambler Returns
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 09:07:06 -0400
Well maybe but I have a different thought.
The bungee gear comes to an abrupt stop too when bottomed out against
the cable unless of course the cable breaks -and it will break with some
of the installations that are being used and that is going to be a large
repair job. Discussion should be in the archives but as I recall the
die spring gear does not bottom out before a factory setup bungee
although of course you are free to add extra bungee strength if you have
AN6 bolts holding them. Ducky has been through a lot with the die
springs and no damage yet and it is comforting to know that any likely
damage is normally just a bent gear leg. I do agree that some rubber
bottoming dampers to soften a full extension bottom out would be
comforting but I haven't figured out how to do that easily or whether it
is worth the effort. Perhaps worthy of some thought. Maybe I'll add some
indicator of max extension to see how much movement I'm actually getting
on my springs.
Bungees will convert some energy into heat and reduce subsequent
bouncing but I doubt that helps the first impact much. I'd guess that
the tires scrubbing sideways as they are pushed sideways at touchdown is
probably a much larger energy absorbing mechanism on pavement unless
landing on only one wheel.
One of my flats I attribute to low pressure and and tire rotation on the
rim and after making other inquiries I now keep 21 psi minimum in my
small 600x6 tires.
Ken
Bob Patterson wrote:
Thanks Dale !We all had a GREAT Ramble !! The weather was just marvelous,
we only had one rain day, and a superb trip through The Rocks !
We got a fair bit of exposure to "hot & high" flying - it was in
the 90's several days, in B.C., Idaho & Montana.
We did learn that the die spring gear really does have the
limitations I thought it might, in the beginning. If you have the
die springs, and are flying 'near' gross, be VERY gentle with
your landings, and run the big fat tires, a bit soft ... :-(
Two Ramblers bent their front gear legs on 'firm' landings -
nothing that would normally have been a problem .... but when the
die springs run out of travel, there's a pretty strong "thump" that
will bend that big front tube inward !
Sorry you couldn't make it to Oshkosh - there were many
folks looking for you. Hope to see your Moose in the air soooooon !!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Booking a flight? Know when to buy with airfare predictions on MSN Travel.
http://travel.msn.com/Articles/aboutfar ... SN25A07001
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------