REFLECTOR: Nosegear Forks

[Jim Agnew]

Greg,

The original FG strut was mounted to a heavy aluminum U
channel bolted to the canard and well supported.  Later
models like the 173 mounted the top of the strut with a
bolt through the keel and used two straight 1" knurled
aluminum bushings in the keel.  My original strut failed
when the two ears failed due to metal fatigue flush with
the strut.  

Failure was no doubt due to the gear strut having never
been heat treated and the Velocity bending jig allowed the
strut to bow sideways while keeping the bottom and top in
alignment.  This would place a bending moment on the ears
that did not have the reinforcing webs (the replacement
didn't either) and the metal fatigue at the welds was
obvious.

So you have gear struts with and without reinforcing webs
and that may or may not be heat treated and with or without
the new forks so you figure out how many possible
combinations that makes.  Then you can throw in the new and
old style mountings, different layup requirements and old
vs new style bushings and possibly a bowed strut.

Jim

--- Greg Poole <gpoole at zeta.org.au> wrote:
> I'm curious about the fork issue .....1. were all the
> ones that broke installed on the XL models or were there
> just as many problems for the Standard fuselage?
> and...... 2. was the problem the same for FG as opposed
> to RG models?
> 
> I guess a small fuselage Velocity nosewheel can hit the
> ground just as hard as a large fuselage under different
> circumstances. 
> 
> When I think of all the landings the "Lanza Special"
> performed as the factory "Multicolour" trainer-
> especially with such a large bunch of highly
> inexperienced Velocity pilots (includ'g me) .....
> 
> - not questioning the value of the new forks or my life,
> just curious again....
> 
> Greg in Sydney.
> Early Fork Std RG Velocity
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=====
James F. Agnew
Jim_Agnew_2 at Yahoo.Com
Tampa, FL
Velocity 173 Elite Aircraft Completed & Flying