On The Wheels (4 h)

MILESTONE DAY!

Today I was joined by two “Alans”, my wife’s uncle Allen and her brother in law Alan and I was sure glad of their knowledge and assistance as finishing the wheels was trickier (and of course lengthier) that I had expected.

I thought we would start with the nose gear so the first thing was to put the cotter pin in the bungee pin.

But after that we shifted to the main gear and spent quite some time getting the rubber gear supports fit for purpose. When everything seemed aligned we moved the main gear leg, with wheels attached, to the fuselage and with Alan and I holding one leg, Allen underneath pushing the whole thing up, we were able to get it bolted in place.

Main gear is on! Next to the nose gear. We put the bungee cord inside and looped the gear leg inside.

We then reassembled the supports

and hooked the bungee cord over the tab on the gear. The cord is very stiff but Alan was able to wriggle it up using a few sturdy long tools.

Then we reattached the nose fork

during which time we over tightened one of the nuts and stripped the nylon. Alan showed me how to use a chisel to tighten the nut so it could be removed. No way I would have known to do that. I had to steal a new bolt/nut from the box so that will need to be replaced.

To complete the nose gear we put the axle and spacers on the remaining wheel and bolted it to the fork.

And with that the wheels were complete. Well, almost, I have to go back and safety wire a couple of things. And one of the nose wheel bolts was missing so I used a bolt that was the same size but not drilled for safety wire, I’ll have to get a new one of those too and replace it.

Those things aside, the plane could be moved off the saw horses and put on the ground.

The plane needs some weight on the nose so for now it is supported at the back by a saw horse. I’ll get something to put there to get it all on the ground.

A good day!

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