Van's Air Force
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Toe out gear legs?
- Thread starter nwramjet
- Start date
fixnflyguy
Well Known Member
Reach out to Harmon Lange at Langair machining..he made them, and is magical at straightening and advising. I built my -4, and you cannot check true alignment unless the aircraft is jacked off the ground and leveled. Wittman Gear legs do a whole lotta bend and flex ! I've seen Harmon get gear leg I called a gonner that bent far enough to dent the wing lower skin back to straight as an arrow.
HFS
Well Known Member
... what he said +
Since the legs are already drilled to the motor mount, there's not much YOU can do for a toe in/out condition. But, if you know the condition before sending them off to Langair, they may be able to "tweak" them (axle to gear leg orientation) back where they need to be.
Just a thought.
As an aside - Harmon made the original set of RV-3 legs back in 1972; and, full circle, made a one-off custom set for my -3 build last year - 51 years later! Pretty cool.
HFS
Since the legs are already drilled to the motor mount, there's not much YOU can do for a toe in/out condition. But, if you know the condition before sending them off to Langair, they may be able to "tweak" them (axle to gear leg orientation) back where they need to be.
Just a thought.
As an aside - Harmon made the original set of RV-3 legs back in 1972; and, full circle, made a one-off custom set for my -3 build last year - 51 years later! Pretty cool.
HFS
Richard@Langair
Well Known Member
Since you have the legs out of the plane, if you lay them flat on a table with the axle hanging off the end, you can roll them on the table to see any obvious bends in the straight portion of the leg. If the 'bounce' at all, there is a bend that should be fixed. Otherwise we may be able to adjust the bend angles a little to help with the toe angle.
andoman
Well Known Member
I respectfully disagree. The wheels aren’t rolling when they are in the air. The only time alignment matters is when the wheels are rolling.
The existing alignment in normal operation is a key data point.
Existing alignment can be checked using the current F1 Rocket specs: Zero toe-in in the 3 point attitude at a median weight. About halfway between solo/half fuel and gross weight.These are the conditions that exist 99% of the time that the wheels are rolling.
Measure with the gear on sitting on two greased plates.
This check of the alignment will tell the OP exactly where the wheels are pointed during operation and give an idea of where the adjustment needs to go.
HFS
Well Known Member
Checking the aerodynamic alignment for drag reduction on the gear leg fairings & wheel pants are done with the airplane elevated enough that there is no weight on the GL's.
But for ground ops, as andoman stated, weight needs be on the wheels, and they need to be on a grease plate (upon which the mains are rolled (gently) back and forth until all residual movement of the axles are zeroed out), then (and only then) can you access the toe in/out condition - each leg independently.
YMMV - but not if you do it this way.
HFS
But for ground ops, as andoman stated, weight needs be on the wheels, and they need to be on a grease plate (upon which the mains are rolled (gently) back and forth until all residual movement of the axles are zeroed out), then (and only then) can you access the toe in/out condition - each leg independently.
YMMV - but not if you do it this way.
HFS
The previous comment was probably in the context of checking to compare to the alignment specs specified y Vans. So in that regard he was correct, because that check would s done with no weight on the gear.
fixnflyguy
Well Known Member
Yes, my post was in regard to seeing if the legs were bent from the "per plans" alignment as installed. I recall checking all that when I built mine jacked and leveled, as well as setting wheelpant location. I don't recall any tweaking of the match drilled legs as an option in the plans. I understand the weight on wheels dimensions will be different. I would think if went to Langair as I suggested, that would be the data he would check.
HFS
Well Known Member
From the Wayback Machine ...
I am so old school, that I have never built an RV that had "match" drilled gear legs. So ... YOU set the alignment conditions (per plans), and then build to same. But sometimes the alignment/drilling part was not as accurate as needed to insure good handling/operating performance. No "tweaking" after, except sending the (drilled) leg back to Langair (or DIY in house), for "realignment" of the axles wrt toe in/out. Match drilled GL's should be good to go as delivered, unless, over time (and ops) they have been overstressed somehow creating new (read incorrect) alignment.
HFS - A DB (Dinosaur Builder)
I am so old school, that I have never built an RV that had "match" drilled gear legs. So ... YOU set the alignment conditions (per plans), and then build to same. But sometimes the alignment/drilling part was not as accurate as needed to insure good handling/operating performance. No "tweaking" after, except sending the (drilled) leg back to Langair (or DIY in house), for "realignment" of the axles wrt toe in/out. Match drilled GL's should be good to go as delivered, unless, over time (and ops) they have been overstressed somehow creating new (read incorrect) alignment.
HFS - A DB (Dinosaur Builder)
Roadjunkie1
Well Known Member
As I recall (looking way back into the Way Back Machine....
) I had the option of having Van's drill the legs to match the engine/gear mount before being shipped from the Mother Ship. So: mine came pre-drilled and were perfectly aligned out of the (rather big) box. I checked the toe in/out while building but found no need for tweaking. There is no shimming possible to make small adjustments.DB: I like that! Matched holes? Not sure what those are......
