Plans: 1. Replace landing gear 1/8" brace cable with 3/16" cable. Status: Started. Wow what a difference the 3/16" cable is to swage. I can barely compress the collars. I had to put all my weight on it. For the bigger thimbles I needed to drill out the tangs a bit larger as well. I also bought a real Nicopress tool. The $25.00 Lowes version did not gauge correctly. This is too important to go cheap. $300.00 for the tool. I made two swages but they were the "easy" ones. I was able to do those uninstalled. The next two have to be done in place. I think I will need to lengther the Nicopress tool handles with pipe to get more leverage. I also found that a protective cable sleeve I planned was too tight to slip on the cable. It will need the next size up. 2. Replace aluminum spreader bar with 4130 steel. Status: Complete. Basically I figure that as long as I had the gear apart I might as well strengthen the spreader as well. The bar was a simple remove and replace. 3. Lengthen the axle wear bushings. Status: 50% complete. I made the axle 4 inches longer to allow for the Tracy O'Brian brakes. In doing so the axle wear bushings are a little short. I purchased some replacement PVC Schedule 80 pipe. It turns out that the inside diameter of the pipe is a little too narrow to slide onto the axle. I will need to sand the internal core to fit.
