Removing Wheel Extenders

[5422]

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[6643]

Thanks, Vic and Art. That's exactly what I meant. Now the hose can flex in several different directions as opposed to a straight hose that has to change length to move side to side without describing an arc. I took a picture of mine, but it's not a good example as my brakes are on the aft side of the wheel. (I know... They've always been that way...)

[8359]

at the yellow airplane comment. Grip tape on the step is a good idea!

Thanks for the help and photos everyone. I think I'm good to go here. I have all the fittings and hoses made up, just waiting on the new axles from Grove and I can get this done!

[6643]

Found this photo in another thread. It is exactly what mine looked like. Thirty years ago...

[8359]

Finally got my axles from Grove, and finally got around to this project. I have to say it was a lot easier than I was expecting, but also had a few curve balls.

I ended up having to rebuild both calipers and the right side master cylinder. I'm glad I did though as they were both pretty dirty/gunky. The braking system is surprisingly simple and easy to work on. After rebuilding I also installed new brake lining and rotors. With a clean braking system it was very easy to bleed the brakes from the caliper. I just pressurized it with a little bottle and filled the system up to the masters.

I did a test flight today and everything was great. I did a few high speed taxis first to get a feel for it and break in the new brakes. The tail comes up much faster now, and the short field performance improved with the little bit of added AoA. Even with the O-290-D up front, I never felt in danger of burying the nose into the ground, yes it's a little more sensitive, but still very controllable.

Thanks everyone for the help on this project, it made it very easy. If anyone else wants to tackle this and has any questions feel free to ask!

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I do have one question here, what are you guys using to tie the line to the gear leg? There isn't enough space to use a clamp, I noticed some of you had a piece of hose and a zip tie?

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[V529]

Great looking install. Take another look at my picture, that's a home made strip of very thin steel with a rubber liner bonded on the inside. mated with an Adel clamp. Works like a champ!

I suppose a tye wrap would work.........however, as odd as it sounds, tye wraps can dig into steel and definitely aluminum, so be wary. You'll want to support the line and union with more than the landing gear step location, eventually that hard line will break right there. (watch how much your landing gear legs flex on bumpy runways, or runways with dips!)

[8359]

Thanks Victor, I’ll give that a shot, looks straight forward enough.

I’m very happy with how it turned out. I probably could have gone 1-2” shorter on the aeroquip hose, Which would have given me a little more solid line below the leg. But it think this will be fine.

Thanks again for the help.

[6643]

I probably could have gone 1-2” shorter on the aeroquip hose, Which would have given me a little more solid line below the leg.

I would go the other direction. It's that stub of unsupported hardline that might break, and shortening it as much as possible would reduce the likelihood of that happening.

My brakes are on the back side, but otherwise like yours. There's nothing supporting the lines below the step, and it's been that way for at least 30 years.

[dcannon]

Thank you all for the valuable information. Special thank you John for your hardware stock and expertise. A few notes from my own gear extension removal.

Old hardware - AN4 bolts attaching extenders and used with washers on bolt that were covering (and somewhat protecting) the chamfered inboard gear leg holes.

As John notes, MS20004-28 is the winner for Clevelands. I have a 1 and 2deg shim. I discovered that the bushings in the Cleveland torque plate were either an old design or homemade. The 1/4" NAS144-xx (superseded by MS20004-xx) requires Cleveland part # 145-22 (sometimes seen as 145-02200) to reduce the 5/16" torque plate holes. Expensive and hard to find but limited NOS available online. These bushings have a pretty substantial shoulder (see photo). This combined with AN960-416 washers at the NAS1804-4 nuts still leaves more than enough thread. Without the 145-22 bushings, I would have had to use 2+ AN960-416 washers for some of the bolts.

[6643]

AN4 bolts attaching extenders...

OMG! I'm picturing that hard wheel landing that shears those bolts...