nbcguy

Had my newly built Easy Sport 40 up for it's maiden flight this past Sunday. What a great flying plane, a couple of clicks of left and she flew perfect. Mated with an OS 52 4Stroke, I could not have asked for more.

Here's the problem... Too many rolls = airbubble = deadstick in a bad place. The bird went into some tall grass and managed to have it's main gear ripped out of the fusilage. I had made it a taildragger and used some aluminum gear instead of the wire.

Here's the question... Is there a good reason not to use nylon bolts to mount the landing gear? I'm thinking that if I had used nylon bolts maybe 8-32, instead of metal 6-32, the impact would have just sheared the bolts instead of ripping out the bottom of the plane.

Do any of you gurus have some insight on this one?

nbcguy

I forgot to mension, the gear looked like a pretzel.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

nbcguy:

Nylon screws for the landing gear And wing hold downs are strongly recommended by many for just that reason.

Broken ends can be a pain to get out, but that little operation is still easier than repairing a gear mount, or building a new wing.

Bill.

bearmech

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I'm interested in the answer too. I plan on installing the halco gear on my thunderbug 40 with 1/4 28 nybolts as well!

William Robison

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Bear:

Going to 1/4-20tpi nylon on a 40 size plane is too much. With screws that size you'll still probably rip the bottom out of the plane. Four 8-32 are more than sufficient up to 6-8 pound planes.

Bill.

bearmech

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Thanks Bill!!

Edwin

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I've been using 8-32 on my Rascal 110. Basically as an experiment. It holds up fine and breaks when it needs to. Have had 2 breaks since then. One while side slipping in pretty gusty crosswinds, got a heavy bounce when it ballooned. The other, I'm sorty embarrassed to say, I clipped a power line and knocked the gear off. Both times, no damage on belly landing. Put new nylon bolts in and was flying 30 min. later. 10-32 might be more prudent, but I'm satisfied with performance so far.
Edwin

Sprink

Seen too many come off for no good reason, ie perfect landing on the strip, but the gear still comes off. Then the gear comes up and damages the plane.

Gone back to using metal bolts now, it gives me more incentive to land on the strip each time.

pinball-RCU

I think nylon is better. Two 10-24 nylon bolts is not enough for a 5 pound plane. I'm now using three 10-24 bolts, and so far so good.

daven

My Feedback: (1)

I'm with Sprink on this one.

Unless you hit the magically sheer load, you will be ripping gear off on sometimes not so tough landings.

The gear can do substantial damage to the underside of a plane.

I guess I would rather make one larger repair than multiple little ones...

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

I use 1/4 x 20 nylon bolts on all of mine. As stated, they are too strong in some instances and don't shear. Some of the smaller ones would work well in your situation. Enough to hold it, few enough to let go if you need it to.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

A lot of people use 1/4X20 nylon bolts but drill out the center to weaken them so they will break easier. Sorry, I don't know what size drill they use, but I think it's easier to simply use smaller bolts

John

GeraldO

My Feedback: (2)

I use 4 1/4x20 nylon bolts to hold the gear on my Kadet Senior. I don't drill the bolts. It is set up as a taildragger and weighs about 7.5lbs, the gear are CF, and the plane is electric powered.

I've had hundreds of flights with this plane with no premature gear separations, but they have been knocked off twice so far without damage to the fuselage.

Last time was a week ago at the SEFF electric fun-fly in GA. Landed real fast at a very crabbed angle and the gear sheared right off. Went to the on-site hobby store (Hodges Hobbies) for new bolts and had the plane back in the air in minutes.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

Gerald,
How many bolts are you using? I suspect 2 or 3, but you never know

John

GeraldO

My Feedback: (2)

Four on the Senior

On a smaller, 1/2A sized plane that weighs about 28oz I use three 6-32 nylon screws with similar good results.

Dazzler_BE

I finished my Easy Sport not so long ago, replaced the wire gear with some fiberglass one, added 2 extra ply plates on top of wear the landing gear mounts to make sure it's really strong. Then mounted the fiberglass landing gear using 3 nylon bolt of 1/4"

Lightfoot

My Feedback: (1)

My Thunder Tiger Stick came with steel screws. I hit a dirt mound hidden in some high grass and ripped out the landing gear mount. I replace the screws with 4 #10-24 nylon screws. I have not had any hard landings since then but I have no doubts that these will shear before the mount breaks loose.

Gene Chernosky

My Feedback: (182)

I have to TOTALLY agree! Honestly now, if you are that bad at landings why don't you go to a solid rubber plane I don't need gear to come off at an inopertune moment and tear the crap out of the bottom of my plane I use metal bolts on the gear (steel) and wing (aluminum). I typically fly crazily and don't need the wing flying off of my plane so I don't use skimpy nylon bolts holding it down. I guess it all depends on what type of flier you are as to what type of bolts you need...beginner-nylon...intermediate/advanced-metal.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I'm with Sprink, Daven, and Gene on this one. The gear ripping out is only a small part of the damage. When they tumble back and whack the hell out of the rest of the plane is where the real damage occurs.

I'll stick to steel bolts.

nbcguy

Well, there seems to be good points either way.

The input about a rubber plane was just about useless though, thanks...

I went with (4) 8-32 nylon bolts this time around and will hope for the best. Hopefully I won't have another crappy landing to find out if they will shear or not.

Thanks for the suggestions.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

My personal preference is to learn how to consistently land without ripping the gear off the bottom no matter which attachment method you use

Either that, or learn how to better attach the gear mounts into the fuse/wing.

John

TI_Ag

My Feedback: (1)

It's not always sloppy landings that cause gear to come off. I lost mine this past weekend when the engine stopped 5' into the air. The plane nosed over, caught some tall grass, and lost the gear. I think I would much rather be replacing a couple nylon bolts than rebuilding the gear attachment (which I will be doing with nylon bolts).

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

Hmm, sounds like a sloppy landing to me. A non-sloppy landing would have been one that was nice and smooth with no resulting damage

John

TI_Ag

My Feedback: (1)

I suppose I wouldn't call it a smooth landing, but it was the least sloppy 5' high takeoff dead stick into tall brush that I've seen

To clarify, I intended to convey that not all landing mishaps are due to pilots who spend too much time modifiying landing gear attachments and not enough time practicing landings.

JWN

My Feedback: (42)

I understood. I was just poking fun at you. Glad to hear there wasn't any more damage than did happen. Dead stick on takeoff can be pretty disastrous.

John