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Beefy nosegear

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DarylP

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2010
Messages
352
Location
CO
Hi everyone! :)

Just to be clear, this post is for those that may want to have a stronger nose-wheel setup, especially if they are doing off-field landings. It is not a question of trike versus tail-dragger. Also...there are those that feel the nose gear on their plane is tough enough for off-field landings, so this does not apply to them either.

If you were going to beef up a nose-gear on a trike, there is the usual consideration, where you simply put on a bigger tire. That would in most cases involve making a new fork to accommodate the wider tire. The second is the trailing-arm suspension which becomes a little more complicated, based on design. The picture below, although in a much larger application, is another idea. That being doing a dual tire nose-wheel.
darylp-albums-pics-picture666-osh118.jpg


This Helio H700 is heavily modified, and many would say is overkill, but I love the nose-gear, which happens to be from a Voodoo F-101. NO...I am NOT going to suggest putting that on your plane. :gig: However, after thinking about it I have come to think that it may not be a bad idea to consider a dual nose-wheel setup as an alternative idea.
The standard fork nose wheel requires two side plates, and the top crossbar...well you know what I mean. If you want to put on a wider tire, that means that it has to be bigger to accommodate it. It starts to add considerable weight and bulk.
If on other hand, you made a longer vertical bar and made a dual spindle on the bottom end (of course), where you could mount two tires side-by-side, that may take less material. The taller dual tires may also give you as much area on the ground as one fat tire.

DarylP

That Helio is a like a monster truck with wings. Other specs on it include: Garrett TPE-331-6 (840 SHP) (MU-2) with water injection, super swamper tires 38" on the mains, F-101 Voodoo nose wheel assembly. Extended wing span to include 175 gallons of Jet-A....Empty weight 3400 pounds. And a 106" prop....!!!!

 
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