RE: Reaction 54 Jet Kit
Hi Racer,
Yes, you will need to shorten the 660s .. bit it's easy to do .. just careful work with a dremel cutoff tool and dressing up on the grinding wheel. On my set, I had to very carefully file/grind down the outside diameter to fit into the trunnions .. maybe .010 or .020" .. but pretty easy. You will also need to cut the springs down since the struts are shortened so dramatically .. again no big deal.
I replaced the nosegear with the small trailing link dreamworks nosegear. This worked out really well. I used the stock nosegear, cut it off as close as possible to the coil, but did have to machine an aluminum sleeve to adapt the Dreamworks gear to the wire strut, since the Dreamworks gear is designed for a larger strut wire (maybe 1/4" vs. 3/16" if I recall correctly). Could also have made a new wire/brass assembly (like on the original) with the right size wire vs. making a sleeve to adapt the original .. either way would work.
I have seen the other trailing link struts that Digitech is selling for the K-cats, and they look really nice too .. I was wondering if they would work with the R54, bet they would...
Let me know if you need any more detail or any pics.
You'll see several references to gear upgrades on Bruce's index of this thread.
Dave