Richard.
Good thinking, but a few problems. First "getting an STC" is really not that easy. I tried that with a simple one. The FAA system is here not very responsive. It would be a 337 then - a Field approval. Second, even if you can swap the axels, what wheel do you want to put on there? The old 5x4 tire rim of the single bearing will not fit two bearings. Any new rim should be using the more standard 5X5.00 tires - saves you quiet a few bucks on a tire. However, that tire might not even fit into the single bearing fork. And last, you can experience nose wheel shimmy with a two bearing single for or double fork as well. As previously stated, it is in most cases not a fault of the single bearing that someone experiences nose wheel shimmy. The chain of events of a shimmy can start from anywhere in the system. I experienced nose wheel shimmy myself in a total rebuilt nose strut. All was tight and snug. Two bearings supporting a brand new tire - still shimmy. It took me a while to see the worn out steering collar actually moving up and down on the strut when steering forces acted on it, thus being the source for the shimmy. The 10 dollar laminated shim from Skyport took care of that problem. My advice is to take care of any steering discrepancies in your system first - that should cure the shimmy and after that ask yourself if you still want to redesign the single fork. ( That is much more work than fixing the shimmy problem) I'll check though if a normal Cessna like nose wheel would clear the casting of a single fork. And contact you off list. Hartmut To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:44:54 -0700 Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Front wheel and single bearing Asking for your opinions and thoughts I have an ercoupe with the single fork front nose gear. And it is loose (as you have explained is somewhat normal) and will wooble. The double fork solution would be a good one except for the following, high cost (Univar doesn't even have any available at this time as they are out of castings), it changes the attitude of plane (requiring shimming of rear main gear to level plane properly) and used ones (fork and axel) don't seem to be available either. I was wondering if I were to get a STC on replacing the short axel (of the single bearing design) to a longer one of a more standard 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" axel size and then get a new standard wheel with two bearings of the same 5.00 x 4.00 tire size (so the attitude of the plane is the same) would be a good way to proceed for the future of these birds. Press the old axel out and press in the new longer axel and install the new wheel and bearings. This would cost significantly less than the double fork condition and yet give us good tracking for our wheel and tire. I would like to here your thoughts on this new idea. Richard McClure N94004 _________________________________________________________________ Get back to school stuff for them and cashback for you. http://www.bing.com/cashback?form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_BackToSchool_Cashback_BTSCashback_1x1
