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Nose gear ground operation


jpolenek

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Several of the electric retract systems are designed to allow you to extend/retract while the pilot is sitting in the seat:

 

http://www.eznoselift.com/

 

The original manual system will NOT do this. (well, not entirely true, you will be able to do ONE retract)

 

MANUAL SYSTEM

 

With the nose extended, the nose gear weight is transfered through the over-center arm, no weight is supported by the actual gears in the retract assembly.

 

If you attempt to retract the nose with ANY weight on the nose gear, the large gear will fail, the teeth strip out, and the nose will fall to the ground.

 

(CAUTION - On occation, I've seen EZ owners park their planes with the manual nose gear partially retracted, just enough so the plane will not fall backwards. I caution against this. Just the weight of someone leaning on the canard could cause the gears to strip. Always place the manual nose gear fully extended, or fully retracted.)

 

Normal operation would be something like this:

 

1) Exit the pilots seat, continue to place body weight on the Canard to keep the plane from falling back-wards.

 

2) While standing behind the canard on the pilots side, Lift the nose up by the canard.

 

3) Reach in and retract the nose gear completely.

 

4) Lower the plane onto its nose parking bumper.

 

NOTE - One very important emergency procedure for failed brakes or the need to stop the plane in an emergency: Reach down and start retracting the nose gear. When it comes out of over-center, the gears strip, and the plane drops to its nose skid plate. (You did install a skid plate?)

 

Waiter

F16 performance on a Piper Cub budget

LongEZ, 160hp, MT CS Prop, Downdraft cooling, Full retract

visit: www.iflyez.com

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Thanks Waiter. That's exactly the information I was looking for.

 

That electric noselift seems pretty expensive. I'm sure there are may people out there who have one and would say it's worth every penny compared to the manual crank, however the price sure seems steep relative to the total cost of the airframe.

 

I wonder if anyone out there has taken the true "homebuilt" approach and made one using a car's power window motor?

 

Joe

Joe

Cozy Mk IV #1550

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One thing to keep in mind for the Cozy (at least for my light pilot wt---150)---I fly mostly configured for 1 person up front with wife and small daughter in the back. The nose is VERY heavy---don't know how people would do it without electric gear. When I set it up for 2 people up front, no big deal. Longez was alway no big deal.

 

Electric nose gear gives you a couple of extra options. If you lose the brakes, you can retract until the "foot" starts grinding away. In this case, you don't damage the nose---and if you need more stopping power, you can lower it all the way (however, manual gear will get you all the way to the ground much faster due to the stripped teeth---which could be a plus).

 

If you have a failed brake (not both), retracting the gear just a little bit should keep the nose gear from castering and will keep you tracking fairly good (at least better than than having the gear all the way down).

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