John Ackerman
Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 130
Location: Prescott, AZ
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 Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:50 pm Post subject: Nose Gear Ideas |
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There has been quite a bit of discussion about the need to frequently re-tighten the nose gear castle nut, especially when the plane is new, and there seems to be some consensus that this is due to “parts wearing in”.
One of us suggested that the Belleville washers be lapped to expedite the break in. This seemed pretty sensible, even if the washers don't move against each other much. I lapped ours lightly using SiC paper wet on a glass plate, starting with 180 grit. Very little effort produced a nice smooth contact surface.
More recently, our local RV Guru and multiple repeat offender pointed out that he has had to flatten the part equivalent to the WD-1031 Axle Flange on RVs that he has built. This part bears and moves on the bronze bushing of the nose fork assembly, and undoubtedly wears into that bushing. Ideally, the flat of the 1031 flange and the surface of the bronze are well-mated and distribute the forces evenly. WD-1031 is a weldment – essentially, a steel tube is welded into a hole in a flat plate. You wouldn’t expect it to be really flat and square. We disassembled the nose gear and inspected the “flat” surface. It was not. The tube protruded from the flat surface perhaps 0.030” at the front sides and was recessed maybe 0.015" across the back, and the flat was slightly warped (as would be expected).
I lapped the flat of the WD-1031 flange using the same technique as for the Belleville washers, but removing a great deal more material. The protrusion and most of the warpage came off fairly quickly, but to get at the recessed surface, it was necessary to remove metal from the whole flat surface. That is slow. The photos show the surface in the early stages of flattening (the gray is the painted surface of the part; most of the protrusion is gone) and at the end of the process where most of the recess and all of my patience had been removed. J A leather glove is strongly recommended!
The nose wheel now casters much more smoothly than before, and when it’s greased, the grease emerges evenly all around, rather than in one spot.
John Ackerman 40458
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