|
|
Welcome to my Excalibur Ultralight Building Web
Site
Modifying the Nose Wheel Assembly
[Home] [Day
1] [Day 2] [Day
3] [Day 4-7] [Misc
Items Received]
[Links] [My
Visit to Excalibur Aircraft] [Muffler/Trailer]
[Fuselage]
[Nose Wheel Modification]
[Links]
The typical nose wheel assembly in a Challenger II and in the
Excalibur look like this: 
As you can see,
this is held in place with 4 hose clamps. There is nothing wrong with this
technique and it has been stable for many years. However, Mike wanted to
improve on this. (Perhaps he didn't trust my landings! HA) His
modification included welding tubes on either side of brackets, and then bolting
these to the ends of the nose wheel assembly. This modification
accomplished two things:
It held the assembly in place.
It keeps the assembly from moving laterally as well as vertically.
Plus, it is stronger than hose clamps!
Here is the assembly before the modification and without the hose
clamps: 
Here is the first
bracket with the tube welded onto it: 
Another view: 
Here is what the
bracket looks like when bolted to the nose wheel assembly: 
Here is the the
assembly with a temporary rod in place to simulate the nose wheel support bar: 
Here is the
assembly in place: 
Here is Mike spot
welding the front of the assembly onto the support bar where the rudders pedals
connect: 
Here are the parts
being painted with a rust inhibitor: 
The nose wheel
assembly in place: 
Here it is with
the wheel: 
After tightening
the bolts down, it looks like this: 
This is the whole
assembly: 
She is finally on
her feet! 
[Home] [Day
1] [Day 2] [Day
3] [Day 4-7] [Misc
Items Received]
[Links] [My
Visit to Excalibur Aircraft] [Muffler/Trailer]
[Fuselage]
[Nose Wheel Modification]
[Links]