How to set wheel alignment?

[wingwalkers]

Does anybody know what the tow or wheel alignment setting is and how to adjust?

wingwalkers

[Pearson]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

Using the search function of this forum, I came up with an old posting from April 2009.

I am 1/8" toe in 18" foreward of the c/l of the axle. It keeps the gear from squating when I am fully loaded and taxi's like a dream. Tim

[M Towsley]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

Keith,

I wanted to tell you I finally got up to where my old T-Craft was hangared in Lincoln, IL. I heard it is now sold and gone, but, I took a bunch of pictures of the windows you were interested in. Do you want me to send the pictures to you? Sorry for the delay, but I was unable to find the guy until he put the plane up for sale.

[wingwalkers]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

Thanks Marty, I decided on fixed windows with air vents in the forward bottom corners of each window. I figure will I am taxiing I can open the doors if need be. The doors were sliding type when I got the plane and there seemed to be a lot of weight in the framing part plus a lot of air leaks.
Keith

[wingwalkers]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

Richard, My wife and I were through your area with our granddaughters in June of 2012. Beautiful country! I was wondering how a person could adjust the tow?
Would they be able to remove the wheel and slip a pipe over the axle and carefully put the proper tow without hurting anything?
Keith

[M Towsley]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

Keith,

That is the way my current plane is set-up. I installed additional vents in the upper windshield area, too. I wish I had my old flip-out windows from my first BC-12, I really liked them.

[N-43121]

Re: How to set wheel alignment?

I spent several years operating off gravel in the summer and skis in the winter. I lived where I never needed to fly off pavement. It turns out that I developed some serious toe-in, but didn't notice it. Imagine my surprise when I relocated to a paved strip ... it was a wild ride on landing! Drift left, apply right rudder, shift weight onto left main, dart for the right shoulder, repeat the other way, etc, etc. I had over 1,000 hours in the plane and I felt like a learning a tail dragger all over again.

I think the toe in was from operating skis on rough lake ice. After checking to make sure nothing was bent at the fuselage, I made a bunch of reference marks on the tarmac and did a "front end alignment". I used a 12-ft long piece of steel conduit slipped over the axle to reset the toe in to about the same as what Tim mentioned in his post a few years ago. I now have the short "ski-brace" installed between the main gear legs and the lower gear strut. I also have gusset plates welded to the gear legs and strut down near the axle. Several years later, no more alignment problems.

Good luck!

Rod