Comment

Comment by Bob McDonald on September 23, 2012 at 5:01pm

Zenair has re-designed the fronr swivel bearing using a higher temperature UHMW, larger shaft, no centering spring and bellville washers.

Comment by Pat Kelly on September 23, 2012 at 3:27pm

how about a torrington bearing instead

Comment by Bob McDonald on July 27, 2012 at 8:08pm

I was sold amphibian floats, and paid the premium for the feature..."BUT" I did not sign on to do R&D for the design of the floats. Twice I have been able to land with the gear welded in the straight ahead position, no damage to the bottoms of my floats , CH750 or self. I am not willing to risk my CH750 or life doing product development. I did not get the fully functioning, proven amphibian floats I paid for. 

Comment by Mark Maltais on July 27, 2012 at 1:34pm

I'm wondering like Rick if you would be better with a block of stainless steel.  Two blocks of steel the same size as the nyloids, with plenty of grease in there would probably be fine and then just re-grease the blocks once a season or so, or even put in a grease nipple on the top block.  Obviously that nyloid is no good in that area.  I feel you're pain on being a R&D guinea pig for Zen!  :(

Comment by Rick George on July 27, 2012 at 12:02pm

Bob,

I understand and agree. I did a little more research and found the positive castor angle of the pivot is critical to reduce/eliminate shimmy.  I do think a solution can be found that is to the satisfaction of everyone. Hopefully the factory will address the issue, by  providing a redesigned nose gear. I hope your endevor is successful, because I am planning to built and install floats on my 750 also. 

Comment by Bob McDonald on July 26, 2012 at 9:16pm

To be perfectly clear on this subject Zenair "a company with 30 yrs float experience" has sold me floats with a known defective designed front nose gear. Giuseppe Lomonaco the only other CH750 in the world flying on Zenair 1450 amphibian floats had to design his own front nose gear after multiple failures of the Zenair factory float nose gear. this was in 2010...  I did not buy factory float kit to become a design engineer or conduct R&D for Zenair with my CH750. This is sold as a proven & tested product. "NOT"

Comment by Rick George on July 26, 2012 at 2:43pm

Bob,

Not sure if you have arrived at a solution yet - one issue could be having two of the same materials rubbing together. I would change one nylon pad to a piece of stainless steel. I'm not sure what the green material is - if it is truly nylon - I would change it to UHMW. It is much harder and absorbs less moisture. Dremel in grease grooves as shown by another builder. The other issue is possibly the torsional stiffness of the frame holding the upper bearing. The top and bottom "C" channel stiffners may have to be made out of thicker material. Food for thought!

Rick George

Comment by David Griggs on July 23, 2012 at 6:40pm

I am saving for floats,but need to get flying on wheels first!

Comment by David Griggs on July 23, 2012 at 6:37pm

Thanks for the post Bob! We appreciate you sharing, it could save us going through the same learning curve in the future.

Comment by Mark Maltais on July 23, 2012 at 5:42pm

Hi Bob!

That could be scary!!  Seems like a "real" bearing should be in there, not nylon. Nice that you are ironing out the bugs before I get a set of floats.  How's it handle in the air with the floats?

How does the suspension hold up?  That front shock looks pretty skinny, you think it would hold up on a grass field?

Still looks great on floats! When do you think you'll be getting them wet?