Mendlerr

I have the ATV wheels and didn't even know it!

Can the Grove brakes replace the Matco brakes found on the Cleveland ATV wheels or am I stuck with these Tiny Brakes?

Looks similar to mine.  I have multiple sets of harnesses here at the house, some are new.  Let me take a look and see what I got.  2" belts are greatly preferred over 3 inch and you typically want the pull-down style shoulder harnesses and I prefer camlocks.

In my experience with harnesses I weld 3/8 plates with eye hooks into the truck of the car, over the structural frame substitute on unibodies.  I mount the harness all the way in the back at a specific angle around 10%-12% like pictured.

Obviously we cannot do this in a plane though.  The reason for mounting the harnesses in this fashion is so they stretch the proper amount on impact.  If you simply wrap a harness around a bar to take up the excess harness you will have a fun time in the hospital with broken collarbones or a severely hurt neck!

They will with an axle adapter. I guess I have to downgrade brakes also

Not sure if my kitfox could help or not but I may be able to snap a pic in a couple days. I believe some tabs are simply welded to the fuselage behind the seats

Just a couple miles up the road the elevation peaks at 5,945ft. We have very rocky terrain like you guys out west and weather like Alaska. We just have more foliage. Our winters here in western NC are similar to mid to lower Minnesota. Extreme snowfall.

The closest place that resembles here is The Scottish highlands or Munich Germany. We have some small private strips with absolutely gnarly approaches, 32AV being near the top of that list. No mistakes can be made because you can't climb back out.

I am 582 powered.

6a4 is an awesome airport full of mostly home builds and the manager is an awesome guy with a lot of building experience. I would love to have a kitfox/avid fly in here sometime

This is truly an awesome place to visit, the scenery is aww inspiring and there is a brewery everywhere you turn. Haha good times

Will the 8" atv wheels fit the grove gear ? I have a pair of 8" wheels mounted to the original bungee gear in my basement.

I know and I hate the weight penalty but I really need the larger tires and he was going to let me take me for $225. They are certified too!

I would really like 21's but I don't know where everyone is buying them for $200. The best I have found is through desser for $350 tires and tubes

A fellow at the airport has an almost new set of 800x6 6 ply tires. They are condors and have new tubes. They came off his Cessna Skyhawk XP 210hp.

Is 6 ply too much for my lil ole kitfox? I could use the bigger tires, my prop clearance is only 4 inches!

I just did this. Lockwood Aero will sell you a kit for $14 bucks if you call and ask. Has been working for me so far

The new website is awesome

typically the aircraft manufacturer will take the wing, put it in a suspended jig and simply place sandbags or other weights on top until failure.  They typically build in a 150% safety factor.  In fact I think that is required by law.

So to be rated for +6 g's the wing must have held 9 times its weight or +9G's and then they derate it to 6G's.

Atleast that is how I have always seen it done.  I would assume Avid did that when they designed the aircraft but who knows.  Not this guy.

Not gonna lie, steep turns scare me a little when you pull the G's in.  I don't trust the wing pins, but thats just me

Allanseye.  A new member here just purchased an Avid, a very early model.  He came and looked at my Kitfox IV before he purchased his.  The builder did something very interesting.  He did not reduce the undercamber but instead covered the entire top of the wing in a very very thin sheet of aluminum then wrapped it all in fabric.  Apparently his Avid is cruising at 85-90mph which rivals my Kitfox IV.  The entire top of the wing is completely smooth.  He may have stumbled on something here

Just thought I would share, thought it was very interesting

I used to build race chassis in small import cars, still kind of do.. I can tell you from personal experience on the track that no 3 point belt will save your life in a car, let alone an airplane.

We build to 5 pt minimum, but nowadays I typically install a 6 or 8pt harness. Submarining under the belt is a huge cause of avoidable death on the track and on the street.

My kitfox has good 4 pt harnesses but I've been thinking about adding the sub belt just for peace of mind.

Another thing to consider, GOOD harnesses are desgined to stretch about 2" on impact, CHEAP harness will not do this. This in turn snaps your collarbones. Ask me how I know. Took 2 years to recover from a buddy wrapping his Factory Five AC Cobra into the wall at Virginia International Raceway while I was riding shotgun, broke my left collarbone pretty badly

Glad your okay

Hey all, I've been on here for awhile but realized I had never checked in.

Richard Mendler

Banner Elk, North Carolina.

Home Elev. 4,452ft MSL

1994 Kitfox Model IV-1200

Tail # N94JE

HomeBase 6A4

Johnson County, TN

Why just an airspeed indicator?  I'm planning on keeping a ball, airspeed, altitude and vsi just as a redundancy for ipad failure.  I considered just leaving everything off except for the airspeed but I rethought that decision.

Awww you lucky dog! Another one of my To-Do wish lists for my bird is a PFD and an EIS and have no gauges on the panel except a ball and an airspeed indicator.

Its just an iPad 2 with Xavion and ForeFlight Pro.  Nothing too special.  The parts will be here Thursday, they were only $50 through aircraft spruce.  I just spent 7 hours stripping the kitfox of everything non-essential on the panel, probably removed 14lbs so far plus all the stuff under the cowling I've taken out..  I also got a lightly used set of 800x6 Condor tires that I'm going to put on the Fox this weekend. 

Once it's all done next week I'm going to redo the weight and balance and then watch it sit in the hangar some more, got no time to fly anymore.

that video made me pucker.  you sir are one lucky SOB!

Aircraft Spruce bought CPS.  I don't know if this is new info or not but that's what the gentleman at Aircraft Spruce told me on the phone 2 weeks ago.  They are in the process of transferring all of their Rotax products to the CPS website.  From what I understand Aircraft Spruce will stop selling any and all Rotax parts and CPS will be their new Rotax supply company

I ordered a few of the new parts for the dash.  I got something cooking up.  No its not meth.  It's a sweet AHRS PFD!

Oh and just an update for everyone.  If you have the grove gear and 600x6 tires you cannot clear the 72" IVO prop!  ask me how I know!  It's new tire time.  I'm going to pick up some 21x800x6 tires this week hopefully.

I do have a tiny tach to compliment the analog tach and surprisingly the Rotax tach is only 50 RPM's off or so, it's hardly noticeable. 

it weighs about 10lbs, including all wiring and hoses.

I have it all listed for $350.  There is a used 2000c on ebay listed for $350 and it doesn't come with the Gizmo dock or anything.  I'm giving you the gauges too even though the turn coordinator has a burnt up bearing I think its a good price but I'm also open to offers. 

The GPS itself doesn't weigh much at all, nor does the antenna and it works great

Hey all, have some recently removed gauges and a GPS from my Kitfox IV

Falcon Attitude Indicator (needs repair, the bug knob is stuck)

Brittian Industries Turn Coordinator (needs repair, bad bearing)

Beechcraft Direction Gyro in working condition

Beechcraft Suction Gauge in working condition

All hosing, tee's and the filter for a Kitfox or Avid

GPS SOLD!

Make me an offer if you want the gauges!

http://www.avidfoxflyers.com/index.php?/topic/1731-prop-problems/page-3#entry13082

Well folks, the kitfox is going on a diet.  While I save to buy some larger tires and get a W&B done I figured I might as well work on the panel some.  I removed the Attitude Indicator, Directional Gyro and the Turn Coordinator along with the Suction Gauge and all associated wiring and tubing.  I also removed the GPS, dock and antenna.

 If the weather is bad I stay home..If it's bad when I'm flying I'll find a road to land on.

Funny you should say that, an airplane landed just a few minutes up the road from me last night.  He ran out of fuel on his way to KHKY and landed on 321 by following the headlights of a few cars. 

They ended up closing the road and towing it to the airport with a wrecker, which I'm sure damaged the plane which is unfortunate, it was a perfect landing.

At first when 5 blackhawks flew low over my house I thought they were going to just pick it up and move it.  That woulda been a sight to see