FoxDB

I believe the more important question is; what is the OD & wall thickness of both vertical tubes of a Mod 4? The builder of my mod 1 extended the vert to be as a mod 4, but when flying it, if the rubber was fully deflected at cruise the vert would deflect about 3" at the top. This made be uncomfortable so I added guy wires.

Dave

My Kitfox I/II has aluminum Tanks, It has 700 Hours on the airframe and no leakage. The tanks are set with RTV I believe this was to prevent the flexing issue.

Dave

So Joey,

VG's on wings next?

Dave

An option I was considering was to buy the A3A Axles from Matco and bore a .75 Hole thru, then re-drill the caliper mounting plate to match the axle pattern. This saves a lot of machining. I learn years back it is less expensive to modify a mass produced part then to start from scratch.

Dave

Neoprene is available in many hardnesses, Neoprene is not as resistant to oils and fuel as Nitrile or viton. Just a guess but I would be looking for something around a Shore A 40-60 Duro.

Dave

I suspended mine from the hanger rafters with ratchet tiedowns attached at the forward spar carry through just inside the wing attach tubes. This I did while designing and building my bush gear. I did put a 2x4 frame under it just in case. And the wings were folded.

Herman,

My 2 leaf tailwheel spring broke and I replaced it with the Kitfox 3 Leaf. I did not notice enough angle change to worry about. Here is a link to the discussion on teamkitfox: http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=3007&highlight=broken+tailwheel+spring

Dave

I have taken better pictures of the baggage compartment. Here they are:

Hope this helps

Dave

Randy,
The Protec PT2 added braces as you see in this drawing:

Ed,

I installed a baggage door after the fabric was on. I installed some pieces of oak between the stringer and the top longeron prior to cutting the fabric. Then I poly tacked the fabric to the stringer and the added oak pieces then I cut the fabric to allow wrapping around the stringer, vertical pieces and top longeron. That became the frame for the door. When I get the plane out again I will try to take better pictures than before.

Dave

Hello All,

I am considering changing the Cylinders on my 582 to cylinders from a 583 snowmobile engine. This would allow the use of the RAVE valves. I am to understand the fuel economy at reduced power settings is better. Any one have experience or opinions on the subject?

Thanks Dave

akflyer,

Have you had a chance to see if F7a will fit early Kitfox?

Thanks

Dave

Paul S,

Do you know if these will work with a Kitfox Mod 1 thru 3?

Dave

Just thought I would post some pics of the storage area I built in my Mod 1 Kitfox. Sorry for the poor quality photos there using my old cell phone camera. It is constructed of .06 Lexan with reinforcing at the hangers and an Aluminum outside door. The top of the door is pinched under the turtle deck.

Dave

SkyPirate,

I believe it defintely would have gone slack at the outside. There is a bending moment on the axle which would transfer to the gear leg. This is a big contributor to bucking of the gear leg as shown in the picture posted by C5enginger. The best defence is to increase the diameter of the gear leg as I don't believe the tire could be any closer to the leg.

Dave

SkyPirate,

Are you refering to the drop test?

Dave

That is not what caused the fuse failure. It was the compressive load of the gear leg not being directed to the center of the longeron due to the lug hole being directly below the longeron.

Dave

BTW This is what happened to the fuselage with the hard landing;

Just thought I would put in my 2 bits. I built a Bush gear for my Mod 1 Kitfox. I used die springs in a housing similar to the bearhawk gear. Designed it to take 3 G's before spring would go solid. I did a very poor landing. The gear held up fine but the fuselage failed. I don't believe the springs went solid because the safety cable cable ties were unbroken. I have considered building new tension members with bungees. I believe an Aluminum Spring Gear or bungees are the more forgiving as they provide the most flex (not including the new Highlander gas strut gear). Here is a link to the drop test video I did on my gear; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvQtKQ5gHVY

Dave  

It does not seem like a good idea to add weight to the side of the struts. Granted close to the jury struts would help. But the reason strut diameters are increased with Gross Weight increase I believe is mainly due to buckling in compression (-G's). The side load caused by the extra weight (granted in up direction with -G's) would cause buckling at a lower compressive force. Just my 2 bits.

Dave

I am interested in this rib mod. Have you made much progress?

Dave

Mod 1 Kitfox

My Third son's 98 Chevy S10 with 3/4 ton Chevy Axles 4.3 Liter will have a Turbo 350 or Turbo 400 with NP203? (I think). Should be a good rock crawler with that amount of flex and the High Torque engine. The other pics are of my Tailwind fuse recovered by my youngest son during Christmas Break and off times at A&P school and finished in Polytone.

I am a proud Papa.

I had a similar failure of my fuselage due to Bush Gear. I feel the problem is the placement of the gear attach tabs directly under the longeron. This causes a bending moment to the tab which caused torsion to the longeron. If you look at the placement on a cub it is offset to the outside to put the V Leg load directed to the center of the longeron. My solution was to add a brace tube to resist this bending moment. Attached are pictures of the damage.

And the A.O.S.S is even better than the hydrosorb I think.

The bungees on the cub gear are a real bitch to change if you dont have the right tool. If you have the tool, they are easy to change. I can get pics of a cub gear when I get home if no one has any already. That will probably be the easiest to tune and to make, but as Ed pointed out, they are normally a one shot deal. You can put the bungees on with the tool, but you cut them off and have to replace them every time you swap the gear out.

:BC:/>

It seemed like the Highlander bungies were a multi wrap design like Standard Avid/Kitfox bungies just on the strut.

I am going to order a set of bungees from Highwing LLC. I found a chafe in one of mine the other day and they are going on 3 yrs and 1000 landings. Cheap insurance if you ask me to just replace em. Avid bungees are 90" and have 7 wraps. Just curious what the Kitfox manual has for length and # of wraps. Sounded like Mark would make them any length I wanted but if you don't specify they are for a Kitfox. Is longer with more wraps better? Shorter with 6 wraps? Does it matter? While were on the topic attached is an instruction manual I found a long time back for wrapping them. I've used this technique twice and it works really well.

Hey Joey,

What happened with the Airdale Bush Gear? Was it a problem with stiffness and lack of travel? If so have you considered building bungie struts?

Dave