Performed final assembly of the nose gear and installed it to the firewall by:
- connecting the fork and doubler with 4 x AN3 bolts; - attaching the fork and doubler to the nose strut via 6 x AN4 bolts; - Adding 2 x cotter pins to the "pin," a 1/2" steel pipe that maintains pressure on the shock cord; - attaching the lower bearing support to the fuselage floor with 7 AN3 bolts; - positioning the shock cord around the steel "pin"; - Sliding the assembled nose gear up through the shock cord loop, catching the rear half of the shock cord onto the aft bungee retainer; - inserting the top end of the gear strut through the upper bearing; - assembling both halves of the bottom bearing around the strut and attaching them to the lower bearing mount with 4 x AN4 bolts; and - Compressing the bottom bearing halves together using 2 x AN3 bolts.
I still need to figure out a way to stretch the shock cord over the forward bungee retainer and I need to safety wire the 4 bolts holding the bottom bearing to the lower mount. But the nose wheel is on!
Completed nose gear - except for the shock cord which I'l need to stretch onto it's pin.
Full airplane from the front to see the nose gear assembly in perspective.