Converting to nosegear

[CoClimber 33]

I bought a Kitfox 2 earlier this year and due to a lack of an airworthiness certificate I decided to strip it down and log the build process.  Never one to leave things alone, I decided to make some changes.  KF4 ribs and flaperons, wing tanks, swap the 582 for a 912, switch to differential flaperon mixer, larger rudder/vertical stab, and convert to nose gear.

Why nose gear on a STOL?  A number of reasons.  I have 20 hours towards my license so want to make landings easier, I will be flying mainly off of paved strips, I doubt I will ever land off airport (no place to do that around here), cheaper insurance, I can see over the nose, and I can easily convert it back to tail wheel.  On a facebook group, I received a fair amount of negative response to this.  Other than the cost, I can't find enough good reasons not to do the conversion, especially considering that I can use this airplane to build my skills then convert it back later if I choose.

I didn't want to use grove gear because of the weight and cost so I designed some cabane style gear that gets the mains back near the third wheel bracket.  This area has already been reinforced to increase my gross weight although I intend to add a tube between the cabane pickups.  I bought a nose gear assembly rather than fabricate my own.  I prefer to do things myself but didn't want to do that much structural analysis and I have this wild notion that I can get this flying sometime next year.  I still need to reinforce the cabane V and add reinforcement to the fuselage but I wanted to show what I've been up to.

[akflyer 1427]

9 times out of 10 if ya catch a little flak about the little wheel being on the wrong end, its all in good fun and is an age old thing.  Your mods are looking good.  You planning on reinforcing the fuse sides as well?  

 

[CoClimber 33]

Yeah, Especially with a gross weight increase, I want to do a lot more reinforcements.  I want to first do more analysis on where the force will be concentrated.

I don't mind kidding, I come from a competitive background but I thought the comment "Death Trap" was a bit over the top.

Funny thing is that I, personally, think a Kitfox is prettier as a trike.  I think I'm clear on the advantages of a tail dragger, I just don't want to learn in one at the moment.  Besides, I spend all day in front of a computer so I love to go home and get my hands dirty fabricating.

[Allen Sutphin 705]

I wish you the best success possible and applaud you for giving it a try. Please keep all your notes, pictures and drawings. If you pull it off and you probably will, I might consider making the same changes. Your info will be worth something that I would pay for.

[CoClimber 33]

Allen, there is no way I would charge for that.  For one thing, there is a liability concern.  I am happy to share what I did though.  Unfortunately, much of this was done by fitting parts to the frame.  The critical number for me was 53 degrees for the main gear legs.  That way the main wheels will just fit inside a UHaul trailer.

[akflyer 1427]

Yeah, Especially with a gross weight increase, I want to do a lot more reinforcements.  I want to first do more analysis on where the force will be concentrated.

I don't mind kidding, I come from a competitive background but I thought the comment "Death Trap" was a bit over the top.

Funny thing is that I, personally, think a Kitfox is prettier as a trike.  I think I'm clear on the advantages of a tail dragger, I just don't want to learn in one at the moment.  Besides, I spend all day in front of a computer so I love to go home and get my hands dirty fabricating.

I fly a short wing death trap... I am happy that some still think the short wing piper is just that.  It keeps them cheap for those of us that know how to fly them and love em.  When I say it, its more to throw it in the face of those who don't know a thing about them and just perpetuate what a friend of a friends 3rd cousins uncles aunt was told one time at a bar...

 

[Allen Sutphin 705]

I got over 150 hrs in one of those short wing death traps, and still here!

[Yamma-Fox 403]

There's always a dumbass or two out there who will make stupid comments.  You'll find less of em here because we'll all hop on and tally-whack them but Facebook is often like a a steamy shit pile that attracts those type of flys

(Spoken from first hand experience LOL)

As far as your mod to trike - I really like it and would probably do something very similar if I ever go back to wheels.  I would like to have a trike that has a super light nose (mains set up very slightly aft of CG) and keep the tailwheel... kind of a hybrid where you can power down the tail at will while taxiing,  or plant it on the nose depending on your elevator input.

Keep us up to date on how the project is going!

Edited 18 Dec 2019 by Yamma-Fox

[CoClimber 33]

I should probably put this in a new subject but I finished cutting out my model 4 ribs. I have the CNC router that I built for work in my shop on permanent loan.  Took a while to get the cad right but now the ribs match up about perfectly to the factory ribs.  A friend gave me two factory ribs so that I can verify them.  I hope to start converting the wing in a week or so.  Regarding Facebook, I posted this photo on a Kitfox group and it seemed to disappear.  I sent a message to the moderator to determine why but didn't hear back.  Strange.

[1avidflyer 1983]

I don't see your picture here either.   Just a box with an x in it.  JImChuk

[TJay 1041]

I had that with a picture on face book the admin said try to re send it then it stuck. Goofy computer stuff.

I see you installed a strap on the lower carry throu like the rest of us did.   I would like a structural engineer to see if that's necessary. I bet a 3/4 inch tube with a .035 wall in tensile strength would hold at least 10,000 before ripping apart don't you think?   I looked at the Kitfox 7 on display at Oshkosh this past year and it also looks like it has a 3/4 tube for the lower carry thru.  Don't know what wall thickness it is but I was impressed by that.

[CoClimber 33]

TJay,  the strap is there for increasing the gross weight but also because I moved my landing gear mounting to that point.  I will be adding a cross piece to the cabane V that you see in the last photo of the gear, which will also add support to the overall structure.

I resized the rib photo.  Let's see if it works.  I can see the original photo on my computer but not my tablet.

[CSCameron 6]

Nice! Good job.

Clark