KitLog pro

Powered By Kitlog Pro v2.0

Kurt Haller RV-9A
' style=
Date:  3-25-2017
Number of Hours:  0.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Nose gear mod (part II)

Images 1-3 show how the stainless steel spacer sets the distance between the mushrooms, no matter how much the axle bolts is torqued. To save wgt., I coulda, and probably shoulda, made the spacer from aluminum, but I had no suitable stock, while several rods of free-maching stainless were available. At the beginning of the day, the spacer was a plain 1" dia cylinder with a 3/8" hole thru the center, but I turned down the center to a ~ 0.55" diameter to save a little weight.

Yes, yes, stainless corrodes aluminum in the presence of water and electrolyte, but everthing will be coated with grease and the rubber seals on the Timken taper bearings are supposedly water-proof. We'll see how things look every annual at least. Worst case I'll have to make or buy new mushrooms and spacer.

The Grove design's mushrooms have a step that captures a tubular spacer, whereas with my mod the spacer can (and does) fall down from between the two mushrooms when the wheel is turned vertical to push between the fork sides, The length of 1/4" Al tube in image 3 is just a little bit less than the distance from one mushroom's outside edge to the other. With the wheel assembled (axle vertical), putting the Al tube in the axle bolt bore suffices (despite its < 3.8" dia) to keep things aligned well enough to tap in the axle bolt (pushing out the tube) once the assy is in the fork. The tube is also convenient for tapping out the bolt for disassembly.

Which was done several times, after torqueing up the bolt and checking for the bearings moving with the wheels. I surfaced the spacer face a few thou shorter on the lathe several times before 150 in-lb stopped motion of the rubber seal that's attached to the inner race of the bearings. (Vans recommends 7-10 ft-lbs for the unmodified assy.) Might have to shave the space down some more after initial wear. Wheel drags as much as unmodified assy torqued to 50 in-lb. Doesn't roll like bicycle wheel, but the drag may help reduce shimmy.
' style=





' style=




' style=




' style=










Copyright © 2001-2024 Matronics. All Rights Reserved.