Posted Sunday, July 4, 2010 @ 04:41 AM
Hi Lutz,
First of all I would say "take nothing off the fork". That item is probably very nearly irreplaceable so I don't think you want to mess with it in any way. Also, if the fork was not scraping on the side before you began the work it should reassemble without scraping on the side, so what has changed?
From recollection of the time I dismantled mine 8 years ago the things which might affect the lateral location or the alignment of the undercarriage are:
1) the lateral position of the upper fork within the base mount, the part that bolts to the fuselage frame.
2) the closeness of the bolt holes through the fuselage frame and the wing spar.
3) the flatness of the joint between the base mount and the fuselage frame.
From your photographs the undercarriage looks to be assembled OK but as a factor to eliminate you could verify that the upper fork is centrally located in the base mount. It probably is for there is not much free space in there.
Have the bolt holes through the fuselage frame and the wing spar become enlarged? Or are the bolts you have used too small in diameter? In short, is it possible to displace the base mount laterally on the fuselage frame?
Since you have had the fuselage repainted, and the gear itself, my guess is that the culprit here is the flatness of the joint. Do you perhaps now have thicker paint on the left side of that fuselage frame than on the right? Or is there a bead of the blue paint on the mating face of the gear base mount? Either of these, or possibly both, could disturb the alignment of the undercarriage enough to make it touch the wheel well side. There's not a lot of clearance. If the back face of the base mount is painted I'd be inclined to clean it off and use a jointing compound when reassembling. Have you tried tightening the screws on the left a little more than those on the right? Take care with that idea for you don't want to crush the wooden structure but it might let you see if a little misalignment is at work here.
As to your second question, I'm afraid my memory fails me here but as a general principle I'd say the screws should be tight in but that you should still use lock wire rather than locktite, but your remark does bring back a memory that these screws are recessed somewhat and that lockwiring was not easy.
Are you certain the play is where the tube goes through the fork? The other place where you might get play in the system is at the base of the handle itself which, from recollection, is pinned through its collar to the tube by a tapered pin.
Nice to discuss an RF3 for a change. Let us know how you get on.
Donald
[Edit by Donald on Sunday, July 4, 2010 @ 05:14 AM]
