| As of November 2002, I replaced the steel wheels with plastic Azusalite 6" wheels. They are light, but require a tube which brings the total weight to about 4.5 pounds per wheel assembly. In the above photo (4/15/03) the gear is needing only a few bolts and it will be ready to roll. |
| 11/29/01 This is an example of the fittings I built. (Fabrication was slow as they were cut and shaped with a 4.5" cutt-off wheel.) No they are not to plan. That's the fun of building your own, right? They are 4130 steel. Ones for station 2 are .125" and station 3 are .090". |
 |
| NOTE: Some ideas and parts shown here are NOT per the Legal Eagle plans. I do not recommend that anyone duplicate what I did. This is simply documenting the adventure I'm experiencing as I build my own airplane. |
| My Legal Eagle Ultralight (Updated 11-29-2002) |
| Photos and text by Paul L. Loghry. All rights reserved. Please e-mail a request if you would like to use a photo or other content. |
 |
| December 2001 was when the fittings were positioned and welded into place on the bottom of the fuselage. This photo is with the fuselage upside down, showing the left side at station 2. I used a variable speed drill motor to remove the threaded rod after the fittings were welded. |
 |
 |
| Station 3, left side, after weld. |
| December 29, 2001 I finished welding the fittings, all 8 of them. This is looking from front to back, the right side station 2 fittings and both sides of the station 3 fittings. |
| Springs are from MSC Industrial Supply Co. (www.mscdirect.com) I selected their part number 07663032 rated at 1094.4 pounds at a max. deflection of 1.2 inches. That is 912 pounds per inch. I know builders that selected one step harder and one step softer. They are both satisfied, so I expect to be too. I preloaded them about 1/4". So, they will start to work at about 227 pounds each. (The tires will be the primary shock adsorber for minor bumps.) The slot is 1.25" so full deflection exceeds the 30% rating, but if I land that hard I won't be worried about springs. (4/15/03 photo) |
 |
 |
| The tail wheel assembly (shopping cart) was reworked, cleaned, lubed, and reassembled with 3 new holes in each side. Then I found that the top holes were too close to where the eye bolts should be. So new holes were dirlled and tapped for 1/4-20 eye bolts (lock nuts inside and out) to attach to the flat area shown above as "B". The wheel is light,so no holes were drilled, but plastic was removed on surface "A" to give it a rounded profile. |
| Tail wheel and spring are completed. (At least until the first test fitting.) Here it is shown with the railroad track that helped me form the wheel end of the spring. A spring can be cold formed with enough blows from a sledge hammer and some imagnative use of tools. 9/1/02 |
 |
 |
| October 2002, my gear legs and axle are not to plan. Based on the experience of others that are flying, station 2 tube is 3/4" and 3 is 5/8". For now, the axle is a bolt that is in a 3/4" tube. Bolt head is ground to prevent rotation. However, I may cut off the head and pin each end of the bolt as a retainer. The idea (thanks John Weikel) is that this is strong and can be repaired without welding. Heavier :-( |
 |
| Nov. 2002, this center fitting for the gear is not quite per plans. I used .090" 4130, did some extra grinding and will use 1/4" bolts (or pins). (This is on p.13, looks like .032", but other sheet metal parts are all 1/8" in the plans.) |
 |
| Above is what Leonard Milholland's gear looked like, Oct. 2002. This one replaced the original, but may still be too weak. Note that it is compressed some with no pilot aboard. He hasn't tried ones rated 1000 lb per inch range. |
| The center piece of the gear assembly is now finished, Nov.2002. Tube is 1/2" x .035 (per plans) with welded bushings on the top ends. |
 |
 |
 |