Jeff, It sounds as if you are referring to the Diehl nose gear which is what I have. I have never had an issue with shimmy on mine. I have rotated at speeds as high as 75 mph and landed as high as 85 mph all with no shimmy. The spring on mine does not contact the centering bolt when the gear is lined up straight. There is (guessing) a 1/8" space on each side of the bolt between it and the spring. This allows for some free castering before contact with the spring. The purpose of the spring is to help align the nose wheel for landing. You mentioned the centering bolt being bent and I think you had to do that prior to your shimmy. With the stops on the nose gear, I just don't see how it could bend while taxiing. I can turn my plane either direction to it's limits and it will not bend the bolt. When you begin your take off roll, apply enough up elevator to relieve most of the weight off the nose wheel without taking it off the pavement. Once you establish enough speed to control the plane with rudder, gently raise the nose off the pavement and wait for the plane to fly itself off the runway. Upon landing and after the mains touch down, keep the nose up as long as possible until it settles on it's on onto the runway and continue to apply up elevator as you slow down. One thing to note is that with the nose gear, the plane will stay on the runway and not float in ground effect once the mains touch down. It will bounce on a hard landing as will any airplane.
Mark Jones (N886MJ) Wales, WI Visit my web site: http://mywebpage.netscape.com/n886mj Email: flyk...@wi.rr.com -----Original Message----- From: krnet-boun...@mylist.net [mailto:krnet-boun...@mylist.net]On Behalf Of jeffyor...@qx.net Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 8:31 AM To: KRnet Subject: KR> Nose Gear question OK, So I may not supply quite enough info for a complete evaluation but, I am going to try and get your alls advise. Yesterday when I went to rotate to take off, just at or before the nose gear lifted, I felt a pretty significant shimmy in the nose gear. The nose came up and the airplane lifted off. I decided to pull the power and set back down. I pulled the power, let the plane sit back down and upon the nose gear touch down, the shimmy came back but much worse. I was actually wondering if it was the nose wheel or something significantly out of balance with the engine. I never really looked at the air speed indicator but I looked at the tach and noticed that I still had 2200 RPM and was having a difficult time getting the RPM's to come down. I have the vernier ( screw in and out ) type throttle so I began back screwing the throttle. Everything finally slowed down and I taxied off and back to my hanger. Upon inspection of the nose wheel it appears that the bolt that appears to hold the little coil spring posts centered, has bent. Or maybe it was bent before I started. I also want to point out that the free castering nose wheel self centers when you lift up on the front end, a test I was told indicates that you have the right tension and such on the nose wheel. In testing a couple of them at the gathering, I noticed they did not self center and those owners indicated they had no shimmy issues. By the way that information was not meant as any criticism of anyone else's KR. I just wanted to compare my nose gear adjustment to others while there. Here is my question. Did I let the nose gear touch down with to much speed thus precipitating the shimmy? Did I do a poor preflight and this centering bolt was already bent ( Slightly, spring still looks to still be contained ) ? Is it possible that I let the plane stay planted to long and had to mush speed before I pulled the nose wheel come up? Thus precipitated the whole thing. Maybe I need to look at the nose gear at the point of the engine mount / fire wall? Your thoughts experiences? Jeff York KR-2 Flying N839BG Home page http//:web.qx.net/jeffyork40/ My KR-2 http://web.qx.net/jeffyork40/Airplane/ to see my KR-2 Email jeffyor...@qx.net _______________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
