Marlyn, I used the spring bar from the old retract system, cut it into and attached them to the landing gear brackets which I also built out of 4130, 1/8" . I put two small webs, just to add a little strength and made some holes to save weight. I epoxyed foam on the front and back of the legs and shaped them to an airfoil, then put one layer of cloth. I built the upper gear bracket with an 8 degree incidence. Don't know if I will get any lift out of them, but the main reason I did this was to take the (toe in) out of the wheel alignment. (tail dragger) The other thing is they look cool, and reduced the weight of the landing gear quite a bit over those heavy aluminum brackets. I also painted both the steel brackets and the aluminum bar so as to not have any direct contact between two dissimilar metals, so no corrosion can set in. The lower brackets, I made of 1/4" 4130, same width as the alum bar about 8" long, I cut most of the way through on an angle to make it plumb with the aircraft in level position. I then bent it and filled the opening with weld. Before I cut anything I made cardboard (highly recommend) templates of bracket and gear legs and used small spring clamps to put them in place and check everything for alignment. After putting all this together and checking with all the gear and wheels on, I am now sitting at -0- toe in/toe out. I don't have all the weight on the gear yet so that may change. I doubt if I have a hundred dollars in the whole setup. Your results may vary.
Mike Turner Edgewood NM, USA <http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/thread?tt=d&on=2&hit=65> Marlyn Taylor 541-344-6709 Eugene, OR 97405 marly...@efn.org
