REFLECTOR: Gear Leg Woes

mike deeter iguanamagic at yahoo.com
Sat Oct 2 13:38:38 CDT 2004


Scott:

Yeah, every situation is different and I can't even
tell the extent of the delamination til I start
grinding.  I'm hoping, and have some visible evidence
to support, that the only layers coming loose are the
two short layers from 18" from the bottom to the pivot
bolt.  That would make sense since those layers are
centered at the 'knee' where the greatest deformations
occur during a hard landing.

Just so I don't misunderstand, please confirm that you
only ground away the portions of layers that appeared
to be coming loose; most of my gear leg seems
unaffected.  Also, that you replaced the ground away
glass w/ appropriate layers and overlap only on the
portions ground away?

One thing I've noticed is that the damage is almost
unnoticeable on the bare-glass area where I've sanded
off my paint; the paint hugely helped by showing the
delamination plainly as a crack running along the edge
of the leg.

Thanks,

Mike


--- Scott Derrick <scott at tnstaafl.net> wrote:

> MIke,
> 
> I'm sure every situation is somewhat different.  I
> had the same problem on
> my std rg.  The leg was first damaged by the
> original owner in a bad
> landing that ended up leaving the runway. It was
> repaired at the factory.
> 
> I had a very bad landing, long story, and had made
> repairs.
> 
> Per a talk with the factory, using a grinder I
> removed all the torsional
> wraps effected down to the core. Blending the
> removal to allow a 1/2 inch
> for each layer. Replaced the wraps. I flew with the
> repaired leg for about
> 30 hours and it came undone again.  Very scary
> landing that was actually a
> greaser that turned into a major vibration as the
> gear was waggin back and
> forth because it had become so loose.
> 
> I ended up buying new cores and making new legs... I
> think the damage from
> two seperate incidents was just to much and the
> cores were effected.
> 
> Scott
> 
> 
> 
> > All:
> >
> > After ~85 hours I noticed evidence of delamination
> of
> > layups on my left main gear leg (Std Elite RG).
> > Perhaps those 'crowd-pleasing' (read that 'damned
> > hard') landings I made early-on are back to haunt
> me.
> > I took the gear off and am scraping paint to
> > understand the full extent of the problem.
> >
> > The factory is kinda busy right now and I can't
> get in
> > touch w/ them so maybe someone out there has had
> the
> > same problem and might know what strategy has
> worked
> > in the past.
> >
> > Can the gear leg typically be fixed?  (I obviously
> > hope so!)
> >
> > Should I remove (I assume 'grind away'!) any parts
> of
> > bad layups?  Any ideas on the best way to do that?
> > Should I start grinding away at the delaminated
> > portion and stop when I feel I'm into a solidly
> > adhered region?
> >
> > I built each leg to plans with a total of 12
> layers of
> > UNI/leg; I've heard of others going to 16 layers;
> is
> > that the consensus or factory guidance?
> >
> > Thanks for any experiences out there.
> >
> > Mike Deeter
> > N2011P Std Elite RG
> >
> >
> > =====
> > *******************************************
> > Mike Deeter
> > N2011 Test Pilot
> > iguanamagic at yahoo.com
> > http://iguanamagic.siegesmund.org
> > *******************************************
> > _______________________________________________
> > To change your email address, visit
> > http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
> >
> > Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
> > user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
> > Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
> > Check old archives:
> http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> To change your email address, visit
> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
> 
> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
> Check old archives:
> http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
> 


=====
*******************************************
Mike Deeter
N2011 Test Pilot
iguanamagic at yahoo.com
http://iguanamagic.siegesmund.org
*******************************************


More information about the Reflector mailing list