The plane is in a U-Haul room in Homosassa, FL. It's new 'home' will be Yelm, WA, as soon as I can get it in ferryable condition (eg, tri-gear, basic radios (1 navcom, 1 transponder) operational, and a 5" EFIS (thus covering all avionics issues with 1 replacement of 'everything')....
I was planning on vacuum-bagging the patch (we had a kit for this in Army aviation (I'm a tanker now, used to be a helo mech), but it can be done with household equipment - just slow-cure due to no rubber heat pads), as a method of ensuring proper out-of-position bonding.... I know Diehl has his own complete gear system, but other list members have told me that simply flipping the stock gear to the back of the spar *will* work (I am assuming that by 86, most people had stopped building them with retracts - from the photos I have the gear appears fixed), and I'd prefer that to buying new mains (why change if it's not broke, etc). For the nosewheel, 'bolt-on' installation is worth the 700 bucks, vs trying to rig something up. On 11/2/2011 11:30 AM, velocityo...@yahoo.com wrote: > Hello Dave, > > First off my salute to you and sincere thanks for your service to this > country! You have my respect and help at any time. > > Glad to see you planning to get this thing going. A couple of things to go > over. The original spring-bar isn't what is used for the tri gear conversion. > Dan Diehl made a different type of fixed geat that bolts to the main spar. It > no longer passes through the cabin as the spring bar did. This gear can just > be turned around. If you airplane has that gear it is easy to do. If it has > the old spring bar it is still easy. > > To make repairs to this airplane is really easy. You have to preserve the > integrity of the wood structure but you can cut as many holes in the glass > skin as you want and cut it up like a Mexican pork chop and as long as you > glass it back together it is fine. > > Don't be affraid to turn it over. Turning it over is not as big of a deal as > you might think. Then it is a lot easier to do the conversion on the main > gear. For the nose gear it needs to be right side up. > > What part of the country will you be in when you make do this? I am in the > South East. > > Victor Taylor > Irvington Alabama > > ________________________________ > From: Dave_A<dave.a.kr...@gmail.com> > To: KRnet<kr...@mylist.net> > Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 12:48 PM > Subject: KR> Continuing thoughts on tri-gear conversion.... > > My entry to this list, a few weeks back, was due to the purchase of a > completed KR2 from an estate, back in the states (I'm in AFG right now). > > The aircraft was issued it's N-Number (N86KR) in 1986, and is in need of > 3 things, it seems - wing pins, some avionics replacement, and > conversion to tri-gear (personal preference). > > The pins can be bought from NVAero from what I understand, I've got the > avionics I plan to install back home - those are the 'easy' jobs.. > > The tri-gear conversion seems the most difficult, and has been the > subject of much thought& online research, resulting in the following > plan (which I'm seeking comments/advice on).... > > 1) Components would be the original KR2 spring-bar mains, and the Diehl > nose gear kit as sold by NVAero. > > 2) The 'objective' is to convert the plane from taildragger to tri-gear > 'in-place', prior to ferrying it from where it is now to my home state. > > 3) From what I've read here and online, the largest block of time (and > largest requirement for jigs/tools/space/etc) in doing this work is the > post-conversion re-assembly - which generally is done by flipping the > plane and re-glassing the area cut open to gain access to the spar/gear. > > What I have come up with, is a *possible* process to accomplish this > conversion without flipping the plane, by raising it up on jacks, > cutting away a rectangular patch of skin (and saving it in-tact for > later) to create access to the mains. At this point, the gear could be > 'flipped' from the front of the spar to the back, and then the > rectangular patch would be re-attached with doublers around the edges > (inside the stub wings, not out in the airstream) and Hysol 9309.3 > (microbead structural adhesive) for an adhesive and gap filler. Properly > done (eg, keeping the patch sucked up tight to the plane while the Hysol > cures) it should be just about as strong as the original structure, and > once sanded& painted, invisible... > > Now, I'm not familliar with the specifics of the KR2 design yet (this is > a mix of army helo repair techniques, online research, and so on), > beyond what I can read online. Apart from a small bit of added weight > (from 4 doubler strips and the 9309), do you guys see any issues with > this plan? Is it going to create issues with the structure of the > stub-wings? Am I going to have trouble cutting out the 'access patch' > and separating the glass skin from the rest of the structure (Say, due > to the skin being adhered to foam& wood structure, making intact > removal of a cut-out section impossible) > > I'm submitting this for comment, because you guys know alot more about > these planes than I do at this point... For all I know, there is a very > good reason why everyone flips the plane& does it the 'conventional' > way - or maybe it's just that's the way that always comes to mind... I > just started from 'assume you cannot flip the bird, what would you do to > fix a hole in the bottom (that conveniently happens to expose the spar& > landing gear)... > > > _______________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________ > 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
