I did it because I prefer planes that don't ground-loop.... For the tailwheel crowd, fixed gear on a KR means more prop clearance....
On Jan 14, 2019 10:03 AM, "rdracer53 via KRnet" <krnet@list.krnet.org> wrote: Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone I agree that it seems like a lot of extra expense to convert from retractable ear to fixed gear, but I imagine for some folks the joy may be in just having another project/modification for them to tackle. That may make it worth the expense.Certainly you work have to get some super performance increase to make it cost effective.Assuming you got another 10mph airspeed, that's another 30 miles out of each tank of gas, for those of us with the plans built 12 gallon header tank, assuming a 4gph burn rate. If you also assume your fuel economy adds up to around 30mpg, that would be like getting and extra gallons worth of travel out of each tank of gas. At 5$/gallon for 100LL you would only have fly 200 tank fulls of gas, or 600 hours to recover the cost of converting if it had cost you $1000 for the conversion. So I guess it could eventually pay off, but again I think for most people who go through with it there is probably a joy in the building and installation of the new gear, not to mention the finish work required afterwards.If it were just a matter of reliability as Larry mentioned, you could just modify your retractable gear with a few bolts to hold it in the down position and viola, fixed gear.As Larry always says, your results may vary. Todd ThelinN825MW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I still like my retractable gear. Why are people going to the considerable effort to replace it with fixed gear? What is the performance before and after? Has anyone ever really tried to seal up the retractable wheel wells (I have to some extent) it should make a big performance improvement. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Done correctly, fixed gear is lighter, faster, and dare I say, more reliable. Larry *********************************** _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
