A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Hi Guys.
Just wondering how the main gear toe looks like on your Phantoms. The problem is that if you align the wheel to sit flat in the wheel well when retracted, you have a large amount of toe out when the gear is down. If you align the wheel parallel with the fuse or worse yet toe it in, the wheel will hit the upper wing skin when retracted...transmitting blunt force to the structure....potentially failing to lock in the up position.....and if it does lock, it may not unlock due to the force exerted on it. With the wheel aligned and sitting flat in the well, the operation of the retract is perfect but again you have the massive toe out condition. What have you guys done? How will toe out affect the handling? It must cause heavy wear on the tires. I do not thing this problem is unique to Skymaster Phantoms since my FeiBao had the same problem. Any pictures of your setup would be helpful.
Thanks!

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

I think I found a solution...although a bit of a compromise. If I put a washer under each of the two outer (toward the root of the wing) retract screws it will raise the retracted wheel a bit in the well giving me a little more room. It almost makes it when the wheel is aligned with the fuse (zero toe) but with a bit of toe out I think it will all work.

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

I just tweaked it a bit more. With the washers acting as a shim and an ever so slight amount of toe out, It works nearly perfect. Now the question is how will a slight amount of toe out vs toe in effect the ground handling?

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Dom,

This isn't a problem on the large SM F-4. I have a slight amount of toe in with no rubbing against the wing skin.

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

I use toe out on my warbirds and it's very helpfull. Toe in can have the effect of wanting to allow the plane to roll over onto its wing tip. With toe out it self centers and levels itself out. When you turn while going a little too fast the plane will have less tendency to tip over with toe out.
I would rather have toe out than toe in and if it's minor then just leave it as is with a little toe out.

Also toe in or out will induce a little bit of braking due to drag from tire scrub but toe out is better because it won't cause the plane to hop and squirm as bad as toe in.

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Thanks Mike and Chris for the response!

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Also, in your other thread you mentioned that you are using 60 psi in the tires. I think that is too much, in my small hawk I use 40 psi and haven´t had any problems. Somewhere in the skymasterjet web page says that depending on the size of the tires you should inflate them to a certain diameter and not to a certain psi.

Regards
Eduardo

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Dom,

Eduardo is exactly right. The F-4 tires are inflated in the wheel well until the tire has expanded to the point of just clearing the wing root. This ends up being apx. 30 psi on my Phantom.

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Thanks for the recommended pressures. I will check that and see if it gives me any more clearance. The tires felt very soft at 30 and even 40 psi. Any amount of weight on them flattens them right out at that pressure. Who do yours look under the weight of the jet?

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

ON my large SM F4E all works perfect did not have to shim any up but did notice that you can not inflate the tyres to much or they will stick in the wheel well.

cheers
Andy

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Dom,

At 30 psi, the tires are not hard but they easily support the weight of the F-4. From the side, they do not look flat and the jet rolls easily.

RE: A question for Skymaster Phantom Owners
 

Thanks Mike!