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After straightening the landing gear leg, it was necessary to adjust the camber. The top of the wheel leaned in toward the fuselage. The wheel was removed and the split collar that holds the brake assembly was placed on top of a screw scissors jack. Then a six-foot long piece of galvanized water pipe was placed over the axle. The opposite wheel was chocked so the FireFly could not roll. Then pressure was placed on the outer end of the pipe until it touched the board. Pressure and the pipe were removed. Next the jack was removed, the wheel slid onto the axle and the wheel placed on the ground. Camber was measured with an incline meter. If it was too low, the height of the scissors jack was increased one inch and the process repeated until the incline meter read 2.5 to 3.0 degrees. The straightened gear leg was not going to hold up so a new leg was installed. The leg OD that slipped into the axle assembly was 0.010 inches larger than the original leg. After removing all powder coating from the axle assembly mating ID and getting a snug fit, the leg was installed in the FireFly. Due to the mating part better fit, the wheel leaned out too much at the top. |
To correct for excess camber, the same process was used as before but reversed. The scissors jack is placed out board, and a hydraulic jack was used to support the fuselage. The fuselage was raised until the pipe could be placed over the axle with the brake assembly removed. Then the pipe was placed over the axle and on top of the scissors jack. Then hydraulic jack was slowly bled down and the FireFly's weight forced the axle assembly down to the floor. Next the fuselage was jacked up, the pipe removed, and the wheel slid onto the axle. Then the hydraulic jack was lowered so the FireFly rested on both wheels and the camber checked. If the bend was not sufficient the scissors jack was raised another inch and the process repeated. The important part of each process is that you bend to a fixed stop and you do it in steps. This keeps one from over bending and one person can do the job. |