I finally finished up installation of the new axles, brakes, wheels, and tires on N891JF last night, and man does it now have brakes! For the first time, a full-power runup is no problem at all. That was a real safety issue for me. I owe Riley Collins for the great deal he gave me on these brakes, which are probably 30 years old, but unused until now.
I was able to nail the alignment at 0.58 degrees of toe-in, which is "close enough for KR work". 0.50 degrees was the goal, but I'm quite happy with 0.58. The landings are far less exciting now. And I love being able to lock one wheel and pivot about that wheel, which has been impossible in N891JF until now. I got lazy regarding making shims, and just milled the mounting flanges of the axles to the correct angle. I fretted over doing that for a while, but after a beer one night this week, I clamped them in them in the vise at the correct angle using a smart-level, and milled the matings flanges off to what I measured with no shims. That was far easier and more accurate than making shims. And rather than reinstalling the 6.5 ounce shims that were there, I removed some aluminum instead, saving almost a half a pound on shims alone. Given that I haven't been able to fly it for 5 weeks, I flew up to Larry Flesner's place for a "hundred dollar BBQ sandwich" today. Actually it was only $79 in fuel, and Larry bought the lunch, so I got off easy. The cool thing is crossing three states in under two hours just to go to lunch and visit with a buddy, and then getting back home in plenty of time for dinner. I'd have gotten better fuel mileage, but the absence of wheel pants reminded me what a huge impact to performance and efficiency that is! Cruise speed at the same RPM dropped from about 148mph to about 135mph, and climbout was surprisingly handicapped. Still, I shouldn't complain about 135mph at 3.4 gph, which is 39.7 mpg...far better than my GTI gets, twice as fast, and straight-line travel. Lack of wheel pants has other ramifications, such as glide range. I decided on the way back that I wasn't going to fly it anymore until I remedy that. Tonight I played around with wheel pants, and discovered that there's a real possibility that Jim's "sexy wheel pants" will fit right back over these brakes! That's a huge time-saver, and will ensure that I can fly to Sun-N-Fun in a month or so and not have to lumber all the way down and back. I'll update this and document the latest progress shortly, but a beginning on the "new gear" story is at the bottom half of http://www.n56ml.com/n891jf/brakes/index.html#matco. Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
