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Jack, I recently came across the same
problem that you described in knee joint. part of the problem is the
washer, part is the knee pin and part is the trailing arm and other connection
surfaces. I looked at the price of a new knee pin and took my old pins to a
hydraulic rechroming machine shop. For about 1/2 the price of new pins
they were chromed and polished. I had this same shop grind two sides
the trailing arm parallel where the Bakelite washers ride. They wear tend
to be in a wedge shape. Finally on the reinstall there was not room to
double up on the new Bakelite washer.
There was still some 'wedge' wear to the
joint surfaces in the landing gear arm that extends down from the wing root. To
take this out error out and get a good fit, I so I cut 20 washers out of .005"
stainless, installed 3 per side of the stainless washers, with third one
having the forward portion cut away to fit the wedge. ( I left material in
the front portion of the washer to allow strength in circling the
pin.) After the installation, my play was reduced from about 1/2 in
to 1/8"
Hope this helps. I have extra
washers if you are interested in this method.
Darrel
ECOUPE #1180
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 06, 1999 2:32
PM
Subject: Main landing gear
I recently purchased a 1947 Ercoupe
415-D. Had problems with the goodyear brakes right from the start so I decided
to convert to the cleveland wheel and brake system. Since the tail of my coupe
sits about a foot lower than the reccommended 75" I decided to install new
donuts on the main gear struts at the same time. Little did I know what a
hassle it would be to install the new donuts. I finally found a neighbor who
has a hydralic press which I utilized to compress the donuts enough to
expose the groove to reinstall the snap rings. This ment I had to work through
the two holes on either side of the donut cap to install the snap ring. It was
quite a chore but finally managed to get both struts completed.
Inoticed that one knee joint had quite a
lot of slop in it (side to side movement) when the wheel was lifted off the
ground. I wasn't too concerned as i thought that was probably how it was
supposed to be. When I got to the other wheel I noticed that the lower leg
did not drop down when the wheel was elevated off the ground . The
knee joint was bound up. I decided that since I had to rebuild this knee joint
i might as well do both of them at the same time. I was able to drive out the
knee pin and then proceded to remove the bushing in the lower leg. It was
onlly then that I realized that the bushings are made of a bakelite material.
I will order the new bushings tomorrow from Skyport or Univair.
My question is: when I receive the new
bakelite bushings is there any special proceedure to instal them? I know they
are a very tight fit and they seem very fragile.
I'm afraid if i try to pound them into the lower leg, I wll
destroy them. What is the best method to install them. My second question
is: on the knee joint that has a lot of slop in it, can I double
up on the large bakelite knee joint washers to take up the
slop?
I would appreciate any information on
this matter.
Thank
you,
Jack Bombard
100 Piper
Drive
Trenton,
SC 29847
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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