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Rob's REBVAIR Project
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Date: 3-11-2017
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Number of Hours: 20.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Landing gear fabrication and installation
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Been putting together the landing gear. The plane will need to be moved this year, and with the engine on it now, the wheel-barrow gear is not likely to cut it.
Replacing the MAM bungee gear with die-spring gear is a near-universal mod for rebels with the traditional gear. Wayne has temporarily stopped fabricating his version of this for sale to builders, but he did alert me to an acceptable substitute from Wag Aero. He was kind enough to caution me to take the assembled gear apart to ensure all burrs are removed from the drilling operation, and to ensure the holes don't have any sharp edges that might 'guillotine' the AN5 bolt that goes through the device.
Images 1 and 2 show the finished product after many hours of cutting tubing, welding, and fitting. The work revolved around strengthening (and/or sizing) the ends of the gear tubes so they mate appropriately with the attach points. Drilling of holes through attach brackets and tubing was critical. A 3/16" swedged safety cable ties together 'opposite' attach bolts so a gear failure (e.g. AN5 bolt shearing on the die spring assembly) doesn't become an engine/prop overhaul.
All this was greatly facilitated with this DIY spring compressor (image 3). It made the job of disassembling and reassembling the die spring gear easy and safe. Some scrap metal, a 1" hole saw, and some 3/8" threaded rod came together to allow precision control of the compression. The smooth application of force also prevents unwanted rotation of the tubes, which is key to being able to insert the bolt through the assembly. The critical AN5 bolt can be seen to the right of the green spring in image 3.
As always, if Wayne ever makes these available again they are well worth the price given the work that goes into them.
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DIY spring compressor
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