ORIGINAL: n57tc
Sperrier,
When i talked with Tom at the Toledo show about the landing gear, he said he is now putting in a piece of aluminum angle to help brace the landing gear in all the Sukhoi's. he offered to send me one for mine if I would call him when he was back in his office.
Mine is still holding up well, but I'm sure in time it will be needing the angle brace and I will be calling Tom.
I'm sure Tom would make the same offer to you if you call him.
Jim
There is some confusion here.
All the planes have an aluminum angle bracket on each side, this is the primary landing gear support member. It's bolted to the motorbox side. There is wood structure beneath it but that wood doesn't really hold the gear in, it's there for other things.
What I had offered as a retrofit on very early planes is the strap that goes beneath the fuse and holds the two legs together to keep them for splaying on a hard landing. This takes most of the outward stress off the motorbox sides.
But forces from the front will still try to bend the gear back in case you hit a rut or just land real hard. In that case the angle bracket will probably break and need to be replaced.
TF