skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

I believe that the landing gear for both the SIG and it’s Clone Lil’ Extra are prone to failure ( Ripped out on a hard landing).
Is it adequate, bad design or just klumbsie thumbies?
Care to share your personal fixes and remedies in words and pics?

Tee Bee

I've been lucky, I guess. Mine's still holding up.

mtntopgeo

My Feedback: (12)

On the original Lil' Extra, the landing gear mounting plank has tri-stock glued in, (running fore & aft) on each side of the plank. Even so, I managed to break an assembly loose on a "somewhat" rough landing. May have been just a lack of glue, but since then, I like to add a piece of tri-stock on the back side of the plank, up against the former/bulkhead. I also cut a strip of covering off the bottom of the fuse, exposing the langing gear area, AND the former/bulkhead at the rear of the landing gear mount, AND the fuse sides. Then I glue/epoxy a piece of 1/16 th ply, covering all the above pieces. This mod, although overkill, really makes the unit bullet-proof (but not crash proof ) and probably only adds a quarter oz to the overall weight. ... The "Counterfit" Lil' Extra has no extra (no pun intended) support on the gear mount & is a potential weak area. I mimic the above procedure. .... Another failure I've had is the wing support plank (for the rear of the wing). Pulled one of those out just snugging down the wing. Was hardly any visible sign of glue there. Nothing special needed here, just a seam of glue/epoxy. ..................... George K.

Oh yeah, Got to take the oppurtunity to gloat a bit here.... Still have two ORIGINAL Lil' Extras NIB

eroc144

My Feedback: (1)

No experience with the Li'l Extra, but on the "Counterfeit Li'l Extra" I epoxy triangle stock between the landing gear plywood brace and the fuselage side. Even with that I had one tear out this summer so I rebuilt the entire area - new landing gear ply that sits in cutouts in plywood formers that run along each side of the fuselage. So far no issues...

You should sell one to this less fortunate soul on the east Coast!

EG

RocketRob

My Feedback: (1)

Skaligawagger - If you land smoother the gear is just fine

On my plane however, I use nylon screws to shear and let the gear pull from the fuse so to not tear up the structure - saves the fuse but is hell on props and wheel pants.

I have also replaced the lame aluminum gear for a glass gear from a plane in Tower's site, the gear was like $9 - also allows the longer prop - following Trevin's lead running 9x4.5 apc.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I blamed it on a rough field but I switched out the little rubber wheels for 2.5" hayes racing wheels....because I dead stick it in everytime...mine is purple and I have a teal one NIB too...Rog

Tee Bee

I also have a NIB teal one stored away under the bed, Rog. Glad I snagged a backup when they were still available.

hkbii

Howdie gents. I have come across this on a few other planes. The landing gear is way to stiff. This transfers the shock right to the fuse. The mounting block is just a little wider than the landing gear. If you think about the leverage that is applied to the block and how much area that is used to hold the gear on is very small. What I do is to run a plywood plate from the bulkhead at the wing to the firewall. This will give the mounting block the purches it needs to withstand the pull of the gear. Then I made a set of wire gear and mounted them by cutting strips out of a fuel jugg and wraping them around the wire, drill the holes and mount them with nylon bolts. I put wire gear on most all of my planes. With this set up I have had crashes that I could call a landing. Keith.

eroc144

My Feedback: (1)

And I've had landings that some would call a crash. Technically speaking, isn't a crash just another type of landing? Not a desireable one or very useful, but a landing nonetheless.

hogflyer

Mine peeled the gear off on a dead-stick down wind asphalt runway landing. It's taken a few good hits, but a majority of the landings have been gentle. Most of its life so far has been on smooth grass field (can't wait until the new asphalt runway in put in). When my gear failed, I noticed there was very little glue on the joint. In fact, I've had several joints fail due to a lack of glue - so much so that I've decided to strip the garbage covering and re-glue the whole plane, and replace the OS .10 with a Mag. .15 XLS. When I'm repairing it, I'm going to reinforce the landing gear mount area so I don't have to repair it again.

Hogflyer

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

When you do this Major Overhaul can you post pics of the repair / landing gear reinforcing please.

buzzard bait

No pants, bigger wheels, 28 oz...my stock gear is fine so far flying from a bumpy grass field. It got slightly bent from a bit of a hard landing, but I carefully bent it back. Maybe the bigger wheels give a bit of a cushion.

hogflyer

Sure will. I've got about 5 planes ahead of it, so nothing will happen until probably March or April.

Hogflyer