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E-Racer main gear


Secret Squirrel

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  • 4 weeks later...

I purchased my retractable gear from a Berkut builder who advertised them on www.ez.org (I am not sure if the website still allows advertising) a few years ago. I purchased my linkages and main hydraulic cylinders from Berkut Engineering a little over a year ago. Berkut Engineering may still have some parts that you will require.

George Graham (who passed away recently) used fixed gear on his E-Racer (see www. rotaryaviation.com - E-Racer for sale http://www.rotaryaviation.com/for_sale.htm ). Shirl was apposed to using retractable landing gear, such as the Infinity Gear, because the spar was not designed to take the loads. You will find Shirl's thoughts regarding the Infinity gear in the old archives (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.eracer.org)

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Hi Mick,

 

Glad to help! You may have already done it, but if you haven't, you should request (from Dave) a set of drawings/blue prints (he sent me 10 "E" size sheets) that show how the Berkut retract linkages are installed etc. The Berkut installation is different than the E-Racer's installation, but the drawings will enable you to improvise. I believe the "A" Arm and "H" Arm linkages used by Berkut are identical in functional dimension (i.e., regarding main hydraulic cylinder size/travel) to Shirl's, but the front and rear Berkut trunions are very different (i.e., than the E-Racer landing gear attach brackets that Shirl show's in the E-Racer plans (pg. 10-13 in the version of the plans that I purchased from Shirl - ER #352). You will have to modify/remove foam/fiberglass (add new layers etc.) where the trunions will be installed. Your rudder cable conduit installations may or may not be a problem with the location of the rear trunion/hydraulic cylinder; mine was because after I installed the rudder conduit I found out I had to add an additional 1/2" to the length of the fuselage (i.e., in the back where the rudder cable conduits ends) to make up for the new curve in the King Racers fuselage. If you use the Berkut trunions you will also find that the location of the E-Racer stringers may not be exactly correct because of the trunion's dimensions. I purchased my trunions before finalizing the installation of the stringers (chapter 7). If you already installed yours, you should be able to make additions/changes to your stringers or possibly build Shirl's gear attach brackets instead, but ,I believe, Berkut's trunions are more robust - talk to Dave to determine if his are necessary. I haven't finished my gear/strake installation, so I am not sure if I will have any problems with the fuel sump location etc. I hope this helps.

 

Tom

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