Tofly, I will replace with robo's when the time comes. How much wt did you add to the nose?

The next installment is removal of the landing gear mounts from the wing. I use the pair of pliers shown in the first photo to grip the mounts and bend them until I hear the factory glue bond snap. Then reverse the direction of the pliers till I heard it break in that direction. Doing this on both ends until I can pull the free end out, then remove the rail. I left the aft rails in because I thought they could take the stress but the more I think about it the more I realize the week point is the adhesive so I’ll probly remove the backs and re-glue with epoxy.

Next I take some rough measurements with the retract to see how things will have to fit. Then will use the removed part as a template to make the replacements out of maple. Now the front ones at least I will make the hole in the ribs large enough to fit the entire maple block not the little tab shown in the pictures, the aft ones will look identical. More importantly though I will move the front mount in to the wing and turn it slightly and turn the aft slightly. This will put a forward rake on the gear when they deploy and keep the mounts flat to the retract ears.

Lastly if you do not know how to take the CJ retract cylinder apart I’ve provided pictures of the parts. The outer cylinder wall unscrews from the hub, to not destroy the outer cylinder wall you need to grip it at the barb end. Any access pressure there or trying to grip it on the center will permanently deform it. I have leaks in mine and there is so much petroleum jelly that the conditioning oils were not working so I needed to wipe them down, then lube them up with the good stuff. I have a piston leak in one and a hub leak in the other.

Joe