TREADSTONE.

..Swissflyer,

What was the problems with the euro kit retracts ...i have a buddy who had trouble too but we solved the issues eventually...Eurokit retracts are quite readily available here, reasonably priced and do fit this application well...

D. kid,

Thanks for the PM...fantastic what retracts did you use ...?

Dave Wilshere

Threadstone

No it's as was.

The round pins do need flats filling on them both ends where the grub screw meets, then they can't rotate.

Dave Wilshere

john agnew

Treadstone

As I advised you previously I also had problems with the legs rotating. The problem is with the grubscrew in the retract body > As Dave suggestsI did file flats on the pins but the lower grubscrew did not screw in far enough to get agood grip. Eventually I drilled and tapped it to take a 4mm screw which seemed to solve the problem.

John

TREADSTONE.

Anyone got a stock /part # for the eurokit retracts suitable for the Harpoon ....?.....and price...?

Dave Wilshere

Part No 175 £298.99 complete with valves and tube/tank Oleos etc etc

DW

TREADSTONE.

O.K. Just ordered one of these sets ( # 175 ) from Motors and Rotors... But its only fair to those who think that this is just a retract set to point out that it is in fact the Retracts, Oleo's Wheels, and Brakes.. with all valves pipes etc....
So what seems a tad expensive is in actual fact quite a comprehensive set of hardware to stop your harpoon resting on the floor..

swissflyer

s@#@ [:@]

i lost my post...

i will rewrite it:
with the eurokit-harpoon i have also a lot of flight, but actually i will not buy it anymore:
i try to explain in my swiss-english
The 2 parts of the legs are old in place by one screw fixed in a sliding slot...in mine started to build some play in this palce, and now the weels have some play and make the harpoon taxiing ugly [:-] (and when land i land 95% of the time like a 747...)
the fixing with 6 mm axes i found not good, it tend to loose to much and the gears start to turn and there is a general play beetwen all parts..i prefer a fixing like springair-robart (that fix the big diameter in the legs...)

these are my impression..based on my experience...

john agnew

Sorry Treadstone

Got to agree with swissflyer on this one.Exactly the same experience.Dave Wilshire may disagree but I am sure he is much better at landings than I am! I will not buy eurotracts again and will stick to springairs.

John

Dave Wilshere

Guys

I don't know the age of your Eurokit stuff but they have made huge advances on quality and durability in the last 6 months.
The Oleo leg has been beefed up-especially around the antirotation screw/pin.
The 6mm pin is great-anyone who has bent a robart oleo will agree-the pair of pins are a few pounds, the Robart legs rip the bottom of the model open as there is no give.
Yes you need to file a flat for the grub screws...
Eurokit are the most switched on company I deal with, really they are trying to get things right, don't right them off so quickly.
We sold 50 odd HotSpots and 35+ Harpoons 99.8% using Eurokit, they can't be that bad.

Dave Wilshere


PS Ask Ali about my bad landings...when its bad it's bad and my gear still works!!

TREADSTONE.

Hmmm...well ...being pragmatic about this i suppose i'll just have to have a look at these fellows when they arrive ( tomorrow supposedly)...if their is anything to do to stop any initial wear occurring by locktighting things up.... or making stronger pins.... or fitting longer grubscrews then so be it.. we'll go round it later



Oh ! Dave posted while i was typing...

MAX EFFFORT

I agree, the pins bending easier is a good thing, as not to rip out mounting wood.. I dimple drilled each grubscrew set spot instead of flats, which worked better for me.. I set up mains with a little toe out, so when any play comes with wear, they are alighned right.. a seperate air tank for brakes and 1 for gear is best.. big ones, put in nose.. i have brake, gear and propane tank all 3 in nose, along with rx batt.. the hard air lines with the eurokit's are a little difficult to keep neat but work ok with some planning.. i raised mains like dave with a gap at pin, but i added the white plastic washer as can be seen in the pic, at the top.. also you may need to put a restrictor in main air lines to keep them from slamming up and down too hard but not in nose line.

TREADSTONE.

Great info D.Kid..first class.

With a bit of luck hardware should be here today so can have a look, yeah those Eurokit clear lines are a bit rigid, but are they a standard 4mm size, i cant remember....is it possible to mount the wheels/brakes so that the brake backplate faces inwards...?...just a thought..

Thanks..!

MAX EFFFORT

several guys have mentioned turning the main gear axles/brake plates out, and i have considered it also. the only bad thing is the wheels will be hanging out too much when up.. so if you ever needed to belly the jet in, the wheels/axles would cause a problem with that, as well as the extra drag they would cause during flt.. probably not worth the benefits if any.. wider main wheel base is all i think you would gain, which is not needed.. here is a little tip, after my final assembly and 1st run up, the nose wheel did not have enough weight on it to steer good. in other words it wanted to wheelie to much even with the cg perfect.. so i added about 1/16 inch of wood shim under the front side of main gear mounting plates,as seen in pic.. this leaned the mains rearward just enough to add a little more nose wheel weight but no cg change.. you won't know if you need to do this until you ground run and defuel.. with the lighter motor you may not have this problem..

swissflyer

just for information to the readers: my "bad" experiences with eurokit are with gears buyed in 2002-2003, so old type...


i cannot say anything about the new ones...

if they are really good...i will be the first to buy it!! they prices are very competitive...

TREADSTONE.

D.K....

More great info Thx again..

Swissflier

My Retracts etc are waiting to be picked up at the post office so i'll go by first thing tomorrow morning & have a good look round them ....photo's tomorrow night...

Great service i have to say from Motors and Rotors....didnt order the hardware till pushing closing time Mon night & the gear is on the doorstep at 08:00 the next morning.....shame i was'nt on the doorstep to sign for it though..[:@]

TREADSTONE.

O.K.

Harpoon / Kangaroo... Retracts/Struts/brakes/wheels & all the fittings here, looks like a few improvements have been made..[:-]
The Pin is 6mm dia, not sure what it was before but i dont know how easy it would be to bend this ..
There are now Two grubscrews holding the oleo in place on the pin...fair enough ...but still only one smaller grubscrew holding the now secure oleo /pin assy into the retract body.
I guess the way to lessen any problems here would be to grind two flats on that pin , 90 degrees apart...not to much of a challenge.
Really other than that i dont think for the money they are to bad ...bit heavy maybe...

john agnew

Treadstone

At the risk of sounding repetitive the problem I found was with the grubscrew in the retract body. When you filed a flat on the bottom of the pin the grubscrew would not screw in enough to grip the flat. I eventually drilled it out and replaced it with a 4mm cap head screw.Which seemed to do the trick.

Believe me you will bend the pins in a heavy landing I even broke one when my roo hit a hole on takeoff. Do as Dave Wilshire suggests and buy a length of 6mm steel wire and cut a couple of sets of pins to carry in your flightbox this is cheaper than buying eurotract pins. Its hard to bend them straight at the field but only takes 5 minutes to change pins.

And yes they are heavy! Thats why I prefer springairs with wire legs for grass strips.

John

TREADSTONE.

John,

The cap head is O.K down in that recess in the retract body then ?...or would a longer grub screw do the job..?

swissflyer

DO IT!!!

actually, in my the eurokit pin bend easy as the "home made" from me....i don't know why...

john agnew

Treadstone

Yes the cap head screw is okay and I think you can tighten it more than a grubscrew.

John

MAX EFFFORT

Are you sure you don't have another grubscrew 180 degrees from the one in your 2nd pic?, mine do.. i bought my eurokit gear 1.5 years ago but i do see improvement with your new ones. thicker at slider slot screw for one thing, which you should position and loctite with the slot in screw (up and down), as in pic, to keep the screw driver slot from cutting and removing metal during shocking movement. keep in mind also, even with 4 grubscrews on each main, mine still didn't hold with flats ground on pins, so that is why i drilled a small dimple on pins for each grubscrew to go into slightly.

TREADSTONE.

DK..Looks like i've only got the 1 grubscrew..[:-]...but your probably right on the dimple to let the screw seat or flats on the pins but then grind the ends of the grubscrews flat too...Thanks for more good info

MAX EFFFORT

Those do look nice tread. I need to shine mine back up, haha.. be sure to disassemble and grease all places that will have friction wear, in retract body pivot areas, in shock strut leg, axles, in brake, etc., with real good grease.

TREADSTONE.

Good point, i did notice that these chaps are a bit....er ...tight in places...THX..

TREADSTONE.

....Anyone have suitable part #'s for the electronic valves for the retracts and brakes...?

Who stocks them...?

How much....?