I wrote: >Can anybody identify the maker of the axle in the enclosed photo, and >perhaps the source of another one?
So in the last few days I've searched around quite a bit, given that I've been quarantined at home with Norovirus. Matco says "never made that", Tracy O'Brien says "nothing like it", not a Grove, Cleveland, nor Quicksilver. Steve Glover thinks it may be a Diehl, and may have one he can send me if he can locate it. I have a lathe and could make a new one, but my workload doesn't make that appealing, as there's an awful lot of material that would need to be removed to get there, given that I'd have to start with 2.5" diameter round stock and turn most of it down to 5/8". Or I could just heat it cherry red and whack it back to almost straight and be happy, but I'm a little concerned about heat treatment. Given how weak the material apparently is, it's fairly mild steel anyway. For the moment I've done what any smart KR builder would have done...rotated it 180 degrees and now the wheels are almost perfectly vertical, rather than cambered out at the bottom. I may just leave it that way too! The alignment was out of whack before I disassembled everything (toed out, which explains a lot), so once I get it back to the airport with wings, full fuel, and a pilot in the seat, I'll check alignment again and make some aluminum shims to nail it down perfectly. For those interested in alignment, see how I did N56ML's at http://www.n56ml.com/kgear.html . A cheap laser level from Harbor Freight was used to project a laser line from the outer edge of the wheels or tires, with reproducibly good results. I did the same thing last night on N891JF (darkness helps to see the laser line), and it took about 15 minutes total, and was very informative. With no load and no shims, the pilot's side is toed in 4.8 degrees and the passenger side is toed in 3.1 degrees. The wheels are both within a degree of vertical, but loading it will certainly change all of this enough to warrant waiting til it's "ready to fly" before checking again and correcting. The entire brake system has now been rebuilt to almost new condition and is mostly reinstalled, so progress is being made. I guess the same could be said for the whole airplane... I'll have an entirely new KR2 when I'm finished... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
