Stiffer main gear for the long-EZ

[Aclouston]

What is the consensus among builders/flyers on making a stronger landing gear for the Long-EZ? Is it more layups than required by the plans? Or does it has to do with the alu. angles being too thin? Others?

One member talked about something in a CP, but I haven't seen anything in that regard other than the flox added to remove excessive longitudinal play.

 

[zolotiyeruki]

I think @Kent Ashton is using a Cozy gear hoop on his Long-EZ

[Kent Ashton]

1 hour ago, Aclouston said:

What is the consensus among builders/flyers on making a stronger landing gear for the Long-EZ?

Consensus?  Never heard of such a thing.  🙂  Going from memory, the EZ plans call for using hardwood in the fuselage sides, then the angles that hold the MLG are bolted through the wood.  But EZs are flown heavier and sometimes landed hard and the bolt-wood-fiberglass-angle combo starts to work loose.  If you want to stay close to plans, I would substitute phenolic for the wood and put an aluminum plate on the outside under the skin.  Marc Zeitlin has  a picture of a repair in his gallery with such a plate.   https://www.burnsideaerospace.com/gallery-of-work   The angles are 1/4" thick and should be OK but cracks have been known to propagate around holes where they were drilled for brake line passage.  Skip that.

I built an EZ using an EZ strut but mounting it between bulkheads like a Cozy.  It was a fun exercise  but probably not a necessary mod.  It think there are pictures in my thread at Kent's EZ Project.

Edited May 16, 2024 by Kent Ashton

[Aclouston]

Ahhh. The consensus is then to never follow...😆

I scrolled through your EZ project but did not see the actual gear attachment. You may have it in an older blog? Any way I can figure out that it is better supported in all directions. If you have a good pic. I'd like to see it. In the end I think I would stick to the strenghtening of the fuselage sides that you mentionned.

[zolotiyeruki]

You can see some great photos of the main gear mounting design for the Cozy MK IV here:https://www.cozy.simpex.com/Ch09_03.html

[sixfivelrp]

Here are my plates. Also added steel inserts pressed into the aluminum brackets. Note fasteners are temporary to hold the brackets in place. 

[Aclouston]

Thank you all of you. I've just looked at the Cozy blog Zolotiyeruri sent me and Kent's project. I now understand the concept. It seems quite a bit more elaborate than the Long-EZ, yet very very strong.

 - Wouldn't that be a minus for the long in the event of a landing where you want the main gear to collapse rearward? Wouldn't the pitch moment forward be violent?

- Where can I follow the complete blog you sent me (zoloriyeruki)?

Sixfivlrp

- Thank you for sharing this. Can I copy your mod? If so can you provide details? (plate thickness, glass layup, angles specs)

Kent

You have used a long-EZ strut. Did you build cozy tabs (45 plies, etc)? If so did you use a similar setup than described in the simpex blog ?

Allan

[zolotiyeruki]

The full Build Log for that Cozy is here: https://www.cozy.simpex.com/

[Aclouston]

Thank you zolotiyeruki I really appreciate. I'm currently going through the cozy blogs forwarded to me by Kent Ashton. I'm learning a thing or two...

[sixfivelrp]

The plate thickness I used is .1 inch. The layups are per the build manual and A5 template. Plates are under the bolt heads. Our build page is on Face Book under Zieglers long eze. Give me a week or two and I will upload some pictures from different angles. This is of course my interpretation of the existing scheme. 

 

[Aclouston]

Thanks. I look forward to see this.

Allan

[sixfivelrp]

Posted some pictures of my landing gear reinforcement on our Facebook page. 

[Aclouston]

Hello Fritz

Thank you so much for the pictures. I definitly will incorporate your upgrade in my build (both plates and steel inserts). Your build is so neat! I'm now a follower of yours here and on Facebook.

Hope to talk to you someday.

Allan