dacronwall
Well Known Member
Hey guys
I finally got my RV-3. Flew it for the first time today. The engine mount and gear legs were replaced as part of the purchase. Problem: wobble! Pretty bad during taxi, and roll out on landing.
So...the original gear legs had a wood stiffener fiber-glassed to the back edge of the gear legs, hidden by the leg fairing. It was pretty stiff, and we think the stiffness transferred the landing force up to the mount where it cracked. So at this point, I have the wheel pants and fairings off , and wondering if there is any "new wisdom" on the gear legs. My plane was built in 1984, it had an IO-360 and CS prop on it originally. Now has a new IO-320 and Vans 76 x 79 metal prop.
My gut feeling is that some stiffening is needed, and I am considering strapping the original stiffeners to the legs rather than "bonding" with resin and fiber glass which is a lot stiffer. This should give some dampening and still allow some flex of the gear to avoid transferring so much force to the mount.
I was advised to run the tire pressure around 24# also, which is supposed to help. I only had the chance to make 2 landings today...not pretty, but still need to figure out the sight picture and touch down attitude so my technique will get better, but I do want to get the legs and wheel pants on it once I figure out the stiffener thing.
Any advise would be great.
Thx
Dave
I finally got my RV-3. Flew it for the first time today. The engine mount and gear legs were replaced as part of the purchase. Problem: wobble! Pretty bad during taxi, and roll out on landing.
So...the original gear legs had a wood stiffener fiber-glassed to the back edge of the gear legs, hidden by the leg fairing. It was pretty stiff, and we think the stiffness transferred the landing force up to the mount where it cracked. So at this point, I have the wheel pants and fairings off , and wondering if there is any "new wisdom" on the gear legs. My plane was built in 1984, it had an IO-360 and CS prop on it originally. Now has a new IO-320 and Vans 76 x 79 metal prop.
My gut feeling is that some stiffening is needed, and I am considering strapping the original stiffeners to the legs rather than "bonding" with resin and fiber glass which is a lot stiffer. This should give some dampening and still allow some flex of the gear to avoid transferring so much force to the mount.
I was advised to run the tire pressure around 24# also, which is supposed to help. I only had the chance to make 2 landings today...not pretty, but still need to figure out the sight picture and touch down attitude so my technique will get better, but I do want to get the legs and wheel pants on it once I figure out the stiffener thing.
Any advise would be great.
Thx
Dave