6A mains Gear U-601A

Need advice on what to do.
My left gear leg is out of alignment
I didn't build my RV and I don't know if my gear legs were sold pre-drilled to the Gear weldment or not.
should i replace it with undrilled part ( where to buy one?)
or to try bending it to get closer to alignment

Thank you

U-601

No one had this issue?
am i the first one?

vluvelin said:

Need advice on what to do.
My left gear leg is out of alignment
I didn't build my RV and I don't know if my gear legs were sold pre-drilled to the Gear weldment or not.
should i replace it with undrilled part ( where to buy one?)
or to try bending it to get closer to alignment

Thank you

Click to expand...

I would suggest you call the factory.

It may be possible to remove the existing bolt, align the gear, and drill a new hole ------------- but that should be OKed from Vans I would think.

Good luck.

Hi Julian,
The owner of the company who makes weldmends for Vans is here his website is www.langair.com

The builder of my 6A has placed shims on the lower forward gear braces on the fuselage side wall in an attempt to align the gear. I haven't checked yet to see how the alignment is.

Zero4Zulu said:

The builder of my 6A has placed shims on the lower forward gear braces on the fuselage side wall in an attempt to align the gear. I haven't checked yet to see how the alignment is.

Click to expand...

That looks possible to correct for toe-out condition in my case it is toe-in (outer side of the tire is used up)


thank you

Zero4Zulu said:

The builder of my 6A has placed shims on the lower forward gear braces on the fuselage side wall in an attempt to align the gear. I haven't checked yet to see how the alignment is.

Click to expand...

The shims in that location are probably to adjust for a minor warpage in the weldment after welding rather than to adjust the wheel alignment.

Many builders have either shimmed or bent the part to get a good fit against the fuselage lower longeron.

That make sense Gil. Thanks.

A bunch of landing gear weldments were drilled wrong for the 7a. At least that is what we were told. Vans would replace the weldments but we were already flying. So they custom drilled our gear legs to remove our toe-in problem. We were down 6 weeks but now have almost 500 hours with no issue.
Phelps

Some yes, some no

s24789 said:

A bunch of landing gear weldments were drilled wrong for the 7a. At least that is what we were told. Vans would replace the weldments but we were already flying. So they custom drilled our gear legs to remove our toe-in problem. We were down 6 weeks but now have almost 500 hours with no issue.
Phelps

Click to expand...

Early -6As were shipped with undrilled legs... a later improvement supplied the legs pre-drilled.

Perhaps the factory has the shipping dates for the kit pieces and can determine which set you received?

I remember using shims in a few places on the gear mount to get things lined up so the bolts would not torque the mount. The alignment done by putting the gear legs in and clamping the axels to a big heavy angle and drilling the holes thru the legs. (This was done with the aircraft upside down with the wings on at the same time you final drilled the holes thru the spars to the fuselage structure)

I also made the mistake of checking the wheel alignment. I discovered that just rolling the plane a few feet would make the measurements change. The truth is that there are most likely no two early RVs with the same gear alignment when sitting on the ground. Off the ground the two axels should be parallel to each other, but will be canted down

The real test is long term tire wear. If it is even, or close, you are good. Swapping tires at annual time can extend life. Using good tires also helps.

Just writing this makes my shutter. Thank you Vans for the massive improvements!!!!!!!!

I believe final alignment have to be done after you put wheels on the ground and roll couple of feet like it is done on cars. cant see how alignment can be done properly any other way.

I ordered new landing gear from vans no one have them in stock until end of july

vluvelin said:

I believe final alignment have to be done after you put wheels on the ground and roll couple of feet like it is done on cars. cant see how alignment can be done properly any other way.

I ordered new landing gear from vans no one have them in stock until end of july

Click to expand...

There is no easy way to do a post-assembly rolling alignment in the -6A. You would have to make taper shims to run the whole length of the gear weldment top and bottom where it mounts to the main spar. The alignment is supposed to be set during fuselage assembly. In your case, Vans can supply an undrilled gear and you can redo the alignment and drill the new gear leg. You will likely have to oversize the hole to get a decent fit with the existing gear tower. Check with Vans on the hole size limit and be sure to use an undersize ream for final sizing.