• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

landing gear conversion

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

WurlyBird

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
192
Location
North Pole, Alaska
I have been talking to a guy who has a Kitfox V, Vixen kit for sale. The Vixen was Kitfox's tricycle version plane, before they were designed convertible. I am considering buying it because it is a good price but I want a tail dragger. So the question is;

How do you figure out how much additional support is needed and exactly where to move the main gear to? It uses Grove type landing gear that is simply held on with four bolts and a new mounting bracket could easily be produced. The kit is designed with float attach points and the forward points are just behind where I am eyeballing the main gear as needing to go, so there is already some support considerations built into the frame. Enough? I don't know but I doubt it. A little more support wont hurt.

The kit has the optional tail skid, or auto-leveling-device, as I call it. Again, would additional support be needed to add a tail wheel to this area? I was told that there would be issues hooking up the steering because the hinge line for the rudder is swept back, is this true? I have since seen tail dragger models with swept tails.

Any info will be a huge help since this kit is for a good price and at the stage I want. Just the gear issue stopping me.
 

Attachments

  • attach.jpg
    attach.jpg
    77.6 KB · Views: 1,481
  • tailskid.jpg
    tailskid.jpg
    103.3 KB · Views: 699
  • tailskid2.jpg
    tailskid2.jpg
    84.3 KB · Views: 568
  • tailwheel.jpg
    tailwheel.jpg
    98.2 KB · Views: 1,110
Back
Top