REFLECTOR: Wheel alignment & Nose gear fork

[NMFlyer1 at aol.com]

Just an update. 
 
Took a while to get my gear aligned. Here's some of what I discovered on my  
fixed gear: 
 
The alignment will change quite a bit once your wings, engine and such are  
on (my old plans didn't say to wait). 
 
I added another 500 pounds and checked things out. It squatted a bit more,  
but the alignment didn't change by much. 
 
I did things a little different from the plans:  I initially had put a  1/8" 
thick aluminum plate between the axle and the leg, the shape of the axle  
plate. I ended up turning this axle plate into my shim plate that adjusts  kick 
down and toe in. I used one side of the plate to shim the kick down, and  the 
other side to shim the toe in. I liked this approach for 2 reasons;  It  allows 
just a tad more room for the brakes, and it also allows a  
removable/adjustable part. Just in case I have to reset the alignment again. 
 
I also used hardware store grade 8 bolts. It took a few times to get things  
just right, and it took a bit of a toll on the bolts & nuts. Once I was  happy 
with the results, I put in the AN bolts that came with the kit. 
 
At the end, I needed to adjust the shim on one side by the thickness of a  
piece of paper, and by 2 pieces of paper on the other side. Sounds improbably to 
 get that close, but with my shim plates, I just measured the correction I 
needed  and lightly sanded my shim plates until they were perfect. Right now I 
have  15/16" of toe in on each side. Close enough for now, until the final 
assembly  and weight and balance are right. Then I'll taxi test things. 
 
After that was done I replaced my old (thin) nose gear fork with the  thicker 
one. It came with a new axle and spacers, all you do is use the old  tire/rim 
again. Once it was on I noticed that there was about 3/16" of play  between 
the fork and axle shim tubes. I checked the old ones and they were  longer. So 
I put the old shim tubes back on the new axle. That almost did  it... there 
was still about .050 of slop in the system.  I made a small  shim to take that 
out and now everything is snug, tight and free rolling. 
 
I can't help but wonder if some of the shimmy problems people have are  due 
to a tad of slop in between the gear fork and the axle shim tubes. It isn't  
much, but I would guess it can rattle some teeth... and it is very easy to  
check. 
 
Now it is on to the wheel pants. I'm about 1/3 way done with fitting those.  
Then I can do the brakes. 
 
I have an odd idea; has anyone tried bench bleeding the master cylinders.  
Then bleeding the calipers on the plane along with the brake line attached. I  
have talked to a few canard owners that say that it is a frustrating muther to  
bleed the lines. I figured if you bled the calipers and lines at the same  
time... then capped the lines and pushed them thru the conduit tubes I  
installed... it would make it a little easier to keep from getting trapped air  in the 
lines. 
 
Once that is done I can put on the prop... and make some wind :0 
 
Kurt Winker
173 FGE
340HP Aluminum V6 Chevy 



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