Last night I screwed down the mechanisms and everything sat flat on the LG rails (that’s unusual). I then worked the mechanisms with a screw driver to check for bind points and found non. So now it is onto sizing the strut legs.
To take the OLEO apart find the roll pin holding the OLEO strut end/mechanism adapter in place. It must be driven out with a blunt tool, I usually cut a piece of CRS (cold rolled steel) that is smaller than the roll pin but bigger than the hole in the pin (I used 3/64 round }. Well in my case I’m not keeping anything from this joint but the roll pin so damage to the hole is OK. When removing a role pin you plan to replace later keep in mind that the adapter is usually aluminum on GS OLEO’s and can be marred badly if you are not careful.
Put the strut end in a vise so that it is holding the strut to the end cap. The strut end is under pressure from the spring and once the vice is released the end cap may be launched so plan for this. Once the role pin is out and the parts are out of the vise the ends of the stainless steel strut are sometimes folded over the end cap and must be removed with a dremel cutting wheel. Once this is done the strut will come apart. I had to do this so I put a tie rap through the roll pin hole.
In my case I’m going to shorten the strut so the first thing I will do is down where the strut telescopes into its self I’m going to rap masking tape to prevent from getting a bad measurement.
Mark on the tire axle where the tire ends then remove the tires and axils. Bend the axles so the tire will look correct on the strut as close to the tire line as possible. Grind a good flat on the axial for the set screw. Reassemble using 1/4 in ID washers to act as spacers between to wheel and the strut. Well the local hobby shop only had a 3.75in so that is what I will use. I want to set the wheel so that the closest part of it is flush with the old wheel opening then move the wheel away from that edge so it looks like it can clear the edge with a good margin. Mark the strut where it goes into the mechanism. Then do this for the other side also.
Once everything is marked and double checked cut the strut to length. Then take the discard piece and use it to mark how much spring to cut off. Springs are a funny animal, I’m not going to bore you with spring rate and compressed length. The easy method is to cut off as much spring as I cut off the strut.. Once the discarded portion is removed the bottom wind needs to be shaped to eliminate ant sharp edges.
Once the spring and new end are in place, clamp the mechanism end of the strut in a vice to hold everthing together. Drill the hole for the roll pin (same size as it came out of, 0.125) and drive the roll pin into it