Now that I notice that gap at the very bottom of the gear, the bottom bolts would see some tension, rather than compression, but the gear bracket itself is still doing most of the resistance to bending. I'd let the available hole spacing be my guide, but sandwiching the bottom of the leg a bit with a small aluminum plate (or large AN equivalent of a fender washer) would likely satisfy me, if it were my plane.
Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
