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Rich, #3 If the top of your tail is 75" (or 76.5" with double fork nose gear) then your donuts are good. A droop of an inch or inch and a half is not really a problem. More than that deserves maintenance. If new donuts won't get you up to correct height, you may need the shims. All this is available from Skyport. A drooping tail greatly degrades your crosswind landing safety. #4 The best tool I've seen was made in a welding shop for John Wright, Sr. It had two thick metal plates held together by four very long bolts. The bottom one had a hole in the middle for the strut. The top one had a U shaped cutout. He'd put in the strut then tightened down the nuts on the bolts to compress the strut. When I did my gear struts, I used the hydraulic press the FBO had. That compressed it fine but it was a bit awkward bending over to work on the snap ring. After two hours of getting close and failing to get it on, I asked for help among the old-timers hanging around. One of them got it in about 20 minutes of less vitriolic curse words than I had used. Then I tried the second strut for an hour (with more of the highly vitriolic words) followed by the old-timer doing it in 10 minutes with no bad words at all. Ain't no trick. It just takes dexterity and strength. Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/ ed -at- edburkheadQQQ.com (change -at- and remove the QQQ) ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
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