Nose gear bushing

[FrenchEz]

Hi All,

 I need some help , I bought a VARIEZE and I found some vibrations on the nose landing gear. I need some help. How do you adjust the friction recommended by rutan. Is anybody know where to find the drawing of the nose landing gear bushings.

thanks 

laurent 

 

[Ron Springer]

3 hours ago, FrenchEz said:

Hi All,

 I need some help , I bought a VARIEZE and I found some vibrations on the nose landing gear. I need some help. How do you adjust the friction recommended by rutan. Is anybody know where to find the drawing of the nose landing gear bushings.

thanks 

laurent 

 

I don't see a fully dimensioned drawing of NG23 in the plans. But, you can remove what you have and use this figure from the plans as a guide. To remove the bolt, you will have to cut a hole in the side of the nose.

[macleodm3]

3 hours ago, FrenchEz said:

Hi All,

 I need some help , I bought a VARIEZE and I found some vibrations on the nose landing gear. I need some help. How do you adjust the friction recommended by rutan. Is anybody know where to find the drawing of the nose landing gear bushings.

thanks 

laurent 

 

Please learn about nose gear shimmy (where the front wheel wobbles back and forth at a high rate.... like a worn out shopping cart wheel).  I did a google search for "Long-EZ Shimmy" and found the following information (and there is other information out there too.... this is just one example of what to look for).

 

NOSE WHEEL SHIMMY
(From CP34, Page 9, October, 1982)

     We have cautioned EZ pilots about nose gear shimmy damper adjustment in the last two Canard Pushers, yet we still have EZs losing their nose wheels.   It is a fact that your nose wheel fork will fail if you experience shimmy on landing or take off.  It is also a fact, that if the friction damper is correctly adjusted, you will not have shimmy at all.  The nose wheel fork will not fail due to a normal landing.  It is very strong, the original fork has been grossly overloaded to the point of failing the NG15A casting and/or the 1/8" aluminum plate on the forward face of the NG15A casting.  Yet the fork was not damaged.  This has occurred several times.  We are satisfied that the fork will fail if it shimmies. Therefore if you keep the friction damper adjusted and check it regularly, you will not have this problem.  Every time you extend the nose gear, just before you get into your EZ, hold the nose wheel clear of the ground and use your foot on the trailing edge of the nose wheel tire to check the friction. You will soon get calibrated. You should have to push or pull 3 to 5 lbs. to pivot the fork.
     When taking off, try to rotate positively, hold it down until you have the proper speed, then rotate smoothly.  Try to keep the nose wheel from touching back down or skipping, this is when shimmy is most likely, at the instant of a light touchdown. The same applies to landing.  Hold the nose wheel off until you are traveling as slowly as possible.  Then let the nose down and hold it down with forward stick. Do not let it skip.  Avoid nose wheel touchdown at very high speed.
     If you follow these simple steps you will minimize any chance of shimmy and therefore the chances of losing a nose wheel.  The prototype Long-EZ still has the original thin wall fork and with over 680 hours, has never experienced any shinny. N26MS has almost 500 hours with probably more take off and landings than the prototype and it too has not had nose gear problems. Dick and Jeana have high time Long-EZ with over 700 hours and also have not had shimmy or nose wheel failures.  There is a lesson here - get into the habit of pre-flighting your nose gear. Keep your friction damper correctly adjusted.

Edited August 13, 2019 by macleodm3

[FrenchEz]

Le 13/08/2019 à 18:44, Ron Springer a dit :

I don't see a fully dimensioned drawing of NG23 in the plans. But, you can remove what you have and use this figure from the plans as a guide. To remove the bolt, you will have to cut a hole in the side of the nose.

Thanks for your help!!

laurent

[FrenchEz]

Le 13/08/2019 à 19:06, macleodm3 a dit :

Please learn about nose gear shimmy (where the front wheel wobbles back and forth at a high rate.... like a worn out shopping cart wheel).  I did a google search for "Long-EZ Shimmy" and found the following information (and there is other information out there too.... this is just one example of what to look for).

 

NOSE WHEEL SHIMMY
(From CP34, Page 9, October, 1982)

     We have cautioned EZ pilots about nose gear shimmy damper adjustment in the last two Canard Pushers, yet we still have EZs losing their nose wheels.   It is a fact that your nose wheel fork will fail if you experience shimmy on landing or take off.  It is also a fact, that if the friction damper is correctly adjusted, you will not have shimmy at all.  The nose wheel fork will not fail due to a normal landing.  It is very strong, the original fork has been grossly overloaded to the point of failing the NG15A casting and/or the 1/8" aluminum plate on the forward face of the NG15A casting.  Yet the fork was not damaged.  This has occurred several times.  We are satisfied that the fork will fail if it shimmies. Therefore if you keep the friction damper adjusted and check it regularly, you will not have this problem.  Every time you extend the nose gear, just before you get into your EZ, hold the nose wheel clear of the ground and use your foot on the trailing edge of the nose wheel tire to check the friction. You will soon get calibrated. You should have to push or pull 3 to 5 lbs. to pivot the fork.
     When taking off, try to rotate positively, hold it down until you have the proper speed, then rotate smoothly.  Try to keep the nose wheel from touching back down or skipping, this is when shimmy is most likely, at the instant of a light touchdown. The same applies to landing.  Hold the nose wheel off until you are traveling as slowly as possible.  Then let the nose down and hold it down with forward stick. Do not let it skip.  Avoid nose wheel touchdown at very high speed.
     If you follow these simple steps you will minimize any chance of shimmy and therefore the chances of losing a nose wheel.  The prototype Long-EZ still has the original thin wall fork and with over 680 hours, has never experienced any shinny. N26MS has almost 500 hours with probably more take off and landings than the prototype and it too has not had nose gear problems. Dick and Jeana have high time Long-EZ with over 700 hours and also have not had shimmy or nose wheel failures.  There is a lesson here - get into the habit of pre-flighting your nose gear. Keep your friction damper correctly adjusted.

Thanks, I will check that!