The axel replacement and tensioners from Matco arrived last night so today I picked up concrete anchor bolts and fashioined a crude 'jack' to raise the nose wheel to so the replacement. Drilling the concrete took a bit of time, I found a piece of Alum angle that I drilled 2 holes in, 1 to anchor to the floor and 2, to hook the ratchet strap to. It really doesn't take much force on the aft end of the plane to raise the nose (a good reminder to not load 2 rear passengers at the same time.). The replacement parts go in fairly quickly. They come with good instructions. The first thing you do after removing the wheel is to drill a .250" hole for the bolt which keeps the axel/spacer from rotating. Then remove the old axel parts, install lthe new, and screw on the cap/ bearing tensioner until it puts enough pressure on the rubber bearings so that they don't move independently from the axel. Then install the hex lock nut that holds the tensioner in position. Iordered some wheel balance weights and statically balanced the nose wheel. It didn't take moch weight (2 slugs) and its probably not as accurate as a dynamic balance, but it's baound to be better than it was. I cleaned off some really crusty duct tape that I had applied to the nose gear to prevent scraping of th epowder coat. U fortunately I had to use sandpaper to get it off after 4 AZ summers. I sprayed it with some epoxy paint. tomorrow I'll apply some 3M antichaffe tape. I need to adjust the castle nut for 26 lbs breakout force tomorrow.
Nose wheel Jack
Static balance nose wheel
Matco axel land bearing tensioner installed on freshly painted nose gear leg.
