>...Off the top of my head, I can think that wood rot (such as can affect >the >Bellanca wing) would be something to watch long term. Corrosion of the >WAF's and/or attachment bolts another. I've heard of separations at the >firewall, but that must be a construction issue (wasn't built right to >start with)...
I did some consulting for Jeanette about 15 years ago. She had an inquiry from a second owner as to the structural integrity of the KR-2 firewall. The 1/4-inch plywood was separating from the longerons and 3/32-inch plywood. Pictures showed about an 1/8-inch crack at the top on both sides. Major rework was in order. As to the cause: The second owner stated the aircraft was in fine shape when he purchased it in Oregon, but three days later there were the cracks. One of the pictures showed the KR-2 set on the trailer ready to go to its new home in Alaska. Ratchet ties were fastened at the WAFs and snugged down tight; the spring bar on the RR retracts was about bottomed out. The trailer was a tandem axel car trailer. These trailers are designed for a 4,000 pound car, not a 600 pound KR-2. After 3 days on the 900-mile gravel Alaskan highway, hard mounted on a car trailer, the engine was about to depart the aircraft with the firewall. My guess that amounted to about 500 hard landings. Moral of that story: If you are going to trailer an aircraft, fasten the tires, not the airframe to the trailer so the spring gear and tires can do what they were designed to do. And use a trailer appropriate for the job. You might not shake an engine loose on that one trip to the airport, but how long will it take after you have been flying a while after some needless abuse? Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD, USA smw...@md.metrocast.net
