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Building Webber Landing Gear Shocks for the RF4D printer friendly version
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jb92563
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Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2011 @ 03:44 PM  

Building Webber Landing Gear Shocks for the RF4D

The Schematics: (Full size https://picasaweb.google.com/118388745157890389551/WebberShockGearForRF4D )


The Raw Materials

Fitting parts

The mig welded assembly. I need to take a good look at those welds and test the strength since I am still new to mig welding
and have not gotten to the point of very pretty welds yet. However the welds I have tested were very strong so far.

The above was about 3 hrs of fabrication work so far, all welds are not done yet.

Next I need to measure the Diameter of the bolts on the gear that the flat strips attach too, and the other end where the shock tube rides in the assembly.

[Edit by jb92563 on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 @ 04:13 PM]

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

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Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 @ 10:59 AM  

Webber gear nearly done.

I am not sure how long the neoprene dampers need to be?

How did everyone else determine the correct size?

Perhaps they need to be custom sized for each gear?

Original Bungies and Webber landing gear shocks.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

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Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 04:09 PM  

After reviewing these photos below I understand how to size the rubber dampers so that the shock is NOT pre-extended.

Thanks Dan P. for your clarification on the correct fitting.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

dannparks
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Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 04:11 PM  

(Ha, I posted this 10 seconds after your last post!)

Nice work on a complicated fabrication.

For the length of the rubber bits -- make them long enough to hold the swing arm in the fully out position. If the swing arm closes a bit on retracting, it won't fit inside the shell. At least that's my experience anyway.

[Edit by dannparks on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 04:12 PM]

--------------------
Dann Parks • RF4D #4051 N2188 • now flying!
Pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/111628310900713778468/RF4D_N2188?noredirect=1

Bob Brock
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Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 @ 07:11 PM  

Greetings... I took some pictures of my gear today and have them in an album. I did notice that one of the top bolt heads pushes against the snail and I am making adjustments. Basically I had to really slam the gear up and noticed it pushed up the snail in one spot. When I took the snail out is was clear that there was a contact area. When I get it all back together I will make sure it all fits. Also, I am making new gear door hinges while I have the aircraft apart. Hope this helps....

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Bomar1&target=ALBUM&id=5665342535125388129&authkey=Gv1sRgCPGklb7pw8uZ3QE&feat=email

jb92563
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Posted Thursday, October 20, 2011 @ 10:08 AM  

Bob B., looks like you need a couple 1"+ neoprene dampers to bring your casting to its maximum extension.

As Dan described, it is the incompletely extend gear that is causing your nuts to rub.

Quote:
Hmmmm, that last sentence made me laugh, so I'll leave it as is for comedic value

I think I'll have lots of neoprene damper material (From McMaster-Carr) left over if you don't have any on hand anymore.

[Edit by jb92563 on Thursday, October 20, 2011 @ 10:11 AM]

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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Posted Thursday, November 10, 2011 @ 11:25 AM  

Well, apparently the dimension of the flat steel arms were too short by a couple inches so I welded some additional flat steel to them and redrilled the holes to the proper location.

They are installed and seem to work well through the retract cycle except for some interference with the shell which is making them hard to lock in the up position.

It seems like they are interfering with the shell a few inches in front of the stick opening, so I will cut the shell and make a bit more room.
Hopefully that will resolve the locking up problem.

I also noticed that this "Neoprene" is very hard and I can barely detect any compression when I lower the planes weight onto the gear.
Is that what you other Webber gear folks are seeing as well?

I guess it is designed to flex under more than 1G of landing shock load so perhaps that explains the minimal compression under the 1G weight of the aircraft alone.

I would have thought that there would be at least a bit of visible compression under the 600+ lbs weight of the Fournier on them.

I bought the McMaster-Carr Neoprene that was specified by others and hope they sent the right material as it just looks like hard rubber to me.

I have enough of this Neoprene left over for a couple more gears if anyone needs some.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

Bob Brock
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Posted Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 06:05 PM  

Greeting... 4 RF-4 pilots meeting at Dann's yesterday.... not a big deal in Europe but here in the Northwest, it is all of us. Collin will post a picture soon.

Dann Parks invited Collin and I to visit his shop and also meet with Mike Bittner (former owner of Dann's Aircraft many years ago and for an extended period of time). I had a problem with my "Weber modification," that was, I believe built my Charlie, and I had assumed it was built correctly. Upon closer inspection and checking the mechanism next to Dann's, it was clear the two tubes supporting the compression damper materials was in fact about 1 inch too long on both sides... so it bound up with the gear release mechanism. Additionally, Dann showed me how to reposition the torque bars and make it fit back together.

Since Mike Bittner flew with all the early RF-4 pilots in California and elsewhere (he flew it about 1,000 hours) it was great to ask him about adventures and modifications. He gave me a few ideas that I will incorporate in my rebuild. We may be the "keepers" of history, but Mike Bittner and others actually wrote some of the RF-4 history.

The other thing that was interesting was to see Dann's solution to the same problems, i.e., covering and painting. Basically Dann covered everything with Dacron fabric using the Poly-fiber techniques and Poly-fiber paint. On the other hand, I followed Eugenio's suggestions and fiber-glassed all the wood areas and used a polyurethane (Superflite) system. When we have a side-by-side examination we can give you what we consider to be the pro's and con's of the two processes, including the final wt. of the two aircraft. It will also be of great interest to us to see what the side-by-side performance will be.

By the way, if anyone in the US has some of the dampers left over, I would be happy to purchase them....

jb92563
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Posted Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 06:52 PM  

I have a lot of the McMaster-Carr Neoprene material left over if that is what you mean.

I'll measure tonight, but I think there is at least 24" or more. You only need about 12" per gear set.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

Bob Brock
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Posted Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 08:21 PM  

Ray... that's wonderful. Just give me a call at 503-888-1600 or email at: Bob.Brock@gmail.com and we can set up a purchase.

Regards, Bob Brock

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

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Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2011 @ 02:01 AM  

Neoprene Spring Rubber Tube, 1-1/4" OD, 1/2" ID, 36" L, 75A Durometer
$18.04 Each

McMaster Carr part # 8637K16

I still have 25" left so I only used 11" for my gear.

I'll give you 13" so you have a bit extra.

I can ship it on Friday morning via USPS. Im guessing it will be about 3 lbs so maybe $5 postage. Lets call it $10 total and you can give it to me at the Minden Fly-in next summer.

If that works for you, let me know. Just email me your mailing address and I'll fire it off to you friday. jb92563@yahoo.com

[Edit by jb92563 on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 @ 04:16 PM]

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

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