Comment

Comment by Jerold Ebke on May 30, 2010 at 1:22pm

Larry,
Hope you are having a nice weekend. I hope you can help with a question on Grove gear again.
I have lower gear bracket that I purchased from Zenair in Canada at your suggestion.
I intend to put my gear forward in the gear channel with the flat side forward as per my 650 plans.
Now for the question. Did you grind arc in gear edge 3.5 mm for each bolt as per plans even with only 1 side of Grove gear against bolts or did you make arc cut deeper since only 2 bolts holding latral stability instead of 4 with factory gear? Just curious what you did and how you feel it has turned out.
I am strongly considering UL engines as sold by Gus Warren. Euro is dropping and making price attractive as well as liking the engine generally. Have you heard any talk about these engines and do know much about Gus? I met him 1 time in Missouri and only know of his previous time with WW. His endorsement of the engine carries some weight with me.
Thanks for your help.
Jerry

Comment by Larry Winger on May 5, 2009 at 11:58am

I just got a very helpful call from Woody Harris about the gear issue. Per a conversation with Michael Heintz sometime back, forward placement is a good way to offset the hard drop issues on the nose gear and improves ground handling. This becomes an even greater issue with the heavier engines - Corvair & O-200 in particular. By moving the gear forward and putting the flat side forward, you get the most relief from nose drop. Obviously this might be reversed with a Jabiru. On the issue of the tail going down when a big boy hits the step, Woody has reported no such problem, even with a passenger pushing 225 pounds. Just time your entry to be staggered, so two adults aren't stepping up at the same time.

Comment by Jake Reyna on May 4, 2009 at 11:00am

Larry, I installed my Grove gear to the rear of the aircraft with the flat side back. This might also help since the Corvair is a bit heavy, to get the CG back since the gear is 15 pounds lighter than the stock gear. On the other hand, if you are installing a Jabiru or Rotax the lighter Grove gear should help the CG issues due to a lighter FWF. Another positive to using the Grove gear is that you are going to burn less fuel since every flight will be 15 pounds lighter :-)

Comment by Larry Winger on May 3, 2009 at 10:33pm

Mark, I'm assuming you are talking about Grove gear. Did you put the straight side of the leg forward or aft?

Comment by Larry Winger on May 3, 2009 at 10:31pm

Jerry, thanks for the lead of Gus. I'll sure check with him.

Comment by Mark Ertz on May 3, 2009 at 10:23pm

Built My 601XL w/ gear forward. The advantage is better abilty to hold nose off during touch down and roll. The disadvantage is that if a large person puts all their weight on the step while climbing aboard, the a/c many tip backonto the tail. However, when two big people get into the cabin w/ thier weight above the spar, all is ok.
Also, many early a/c w/ gear back had firewall stress break because the nose comings down after mains touch down. I got 315 hrs on my a/c an love to rotate and flair it w/ gear forward.

Comment by Jerold Ebke on May 3, 2009 at 8:47pm

Larry, I obviously have no experience with a finished plane, but Gus Warren suggested at an open hanger at ZAC last fall to angle the gear back or a large person stepping on step could cause plane to tip aft and hit the tail. He knew I was going to use a corvair conversion and this is what he offered me as advice. Without a doubt he would be great source of knowledge. Jerry