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Nose gear spring


Roger Lee

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Hi All,

 

If you have taken care of the nose gear spring upgrade you should get it done. It is beneficial and will help keep from excessive wear on the guide pin and slot which leads to front wheel wobble. You also won't bottom out on the nose gear any more on the way down and as it rebounds back up. Your steering will be more firm and positive. It is a free upgrade kit from FD.

CTSW Nose Gear Upgrade.pdf

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Roger,

Ever time I read of the benefits of fitting the polymer blocks instead of the spring you are making me cry. I tried to get the UK/Ireland importers to supply us with the upgrade but they keep shaking their shoulders and say that the free upgrade is only for you guys in the States and we have to pay for it.

Please have a bit more sensitivity for us downtrodden Europeans. ...... but then again you live in the land of the FREE.

Mac

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hi All,

 

If you have taken care of the nose gear spring upgrade you should get it done. It is beneficial and will help keep from excessive wear on the guide pin and slot which leads to front wheel wobble. You also won't bottom out on the nose gear any more on the way down and as it rebounds back up. Your steering will be more firm and positive. It is a free upgrade kit from FD.

Roger can you get me one? And please send pics of modified wheel pants so I can see what I'm getting into...Thanks Sir! Doug

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If you're going to install the front elastomer kit, I would recommend that you also order and install a new guide pin and install this too. (Part No. KA4010101 CTSW Parts Manual page #105) - especially if you land on grass strips or on rough runways. This pin keeps the front fork aligned when it telescopes and if worn, will allow the front wheel to "wobble".

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I'm going out to the field this morning. I'll try and post some pics later today.

 

Okay, back from the field.

First if you read down through the LOA's I posted you will see one for a the wheel pant notch and a nice picture.

The notch was a band-aid fix and only allowed limited access and now kind of old school.

Most people I know have all trimmed all the way across. This is night and day over the notch and works very well and gives complete access to inspect and air your tires. Doesn't do any good the original way if you never check down there because it's to big a PITA, but this way no one has an excuse since the wheels can now be inspected and tires aired easily. This is easy to do with some 1" wide masking tape and a Dremel Tool with a cut off blade and it takes about 15 minutes.

It does not affect the effectiveness of the wheel pant to protect and it causes no issues since many have had it like this for 3-4 years.

post-3-056168800 1284326553_thumb.jpg

post-3-029228400 1284326562_thumb.jpg

post-3-022255800 1284326580_thumb.jpg

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I was referring to the original topic of this thread, which was the front end elastomer kit. I'll quietly leave and not confuse things further.

 

"If you have taken care of the nose gear spring upgrade you should get it done. It is beneficial and will help keep from excessive wear on the guide pin and slot which leads to front wheel wobble. You also won't bottom out on the nose gear any more on the way down and as it rebounds back up. Your steering will be more firm and positive. It is a free upgrade kit from FD."

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Here in Australia I have Been Quoted around $170- $ 200 for the elastomer upgrade kit. [aud$ to us$ is currently .94] Plus Delivery. Does that seem excessive compared to USA price ? Ok I know you guys get it for free but us second class have to pay. We dont get firewall blanket either. Which dealer in the states should I contact to get a price for the nose wheel elastomer kit. Thanks

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David, it is not good that your FD dealer down under isn't being proactive regarding the firewall insulation and the front suspension kit. The suspension kit may be "elective" but I think that the firewall insulation is provided for safety? In the event of an engine fire, this would delay or prevent fire/heat from entering the cockpit. I believe that costs are defrayed in the US for the firewall installation due to this? The front suspension kit is providedto CT owners by FD USA for free. Maybe Roger can jump in here because I am not sure. If you must purchase these, I would suggest ordering directly from Flight Design USA (Matt is the guy to talk to at 860.963.7272 or email to parts@flightdesignusa.com or from Lockwood Aviation in Sebring, Florida.

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David, this is too bad that FD Australia isn't as proactive as FD USA. One of the reasons I remain enthusiastic about owning and flying my CTSW is the really good customer support I have received from FD USA. I know that times are very bad for small aircraft companies such as FD USA and most probably FD Australia. There isn't a lot of money available and the costs to remain in compliance with the US Government paperwork alone requires a staggering amount of time and money. Looks like the best you might be able to do is to contact Lockwood Aviation and get a quote for supply of the firewall blanket. This is a costly item to install. It requires the engine and mount to be completely removed from the firewall. If you do decide to have the blanket installed, take a look at your engine rubber mounts and if these are a few years old, this would be a good time to have these replaced.

 

The front suspension isolator kit is an improvement to my CTSW over the original factory steel spring arrangement. My CTSW was "clunking" during grass field landings and when going over rough pavement. Installation of the urethane elastomers eliminated this. I also had some sag going on from the steel spring and the kit brought the front end back up to original height.

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Appreciate your comments Dick and I agree. According to the Australian agent we dont have to comply with the ASTM standards. Therefore I guess Its legally OK if we burn. We have a smallbase of CTs here and as such one gets the sense that we carry little market clout. Jabirus would out number CTs by maybe 50 to 1.

I am happy with the product but you guys get better service.

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David, a thought here. How about writing a note to the president of FD in Germany and letting him know that you are getting "second class" treatment from Flight Design's Australian company? I think that Germany would appreciate knowing that FD owners in Australia aren't being supported very well. The fact that you as an owner of a CT in Australia is not being given any support in your effort to improve the safety of your aircraft while owners of CTs in other countries, such as the USA, are, doesn't promote a lot of good will among the Australian owners. All manufacturers are really fighting for sales of LSA's. A lot of these sales are the direct result of word-of-mouth from current owners. You say "I am happy with the product but you guys get better service". One part of being satisfied with an aircraft is that it performs well, Another major part of satisfied ownership is the owner doesn't feel that he has been abandoned after the sale and that he is supported by the company in regards to maintaining his aircraft in a manner where it is safe to fly. Obviously, the firewall blanket was designed and incorporated into production of present aircraft because FD felt this was needed for safety. FD USA is supporting owners in obtaining and installing this critical component on older aircraft. With the lack of support being provided to it's owners by FD Austialia, I can understand how Jabiru sales are 50:1 to Flight Design.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi guys , I put a new nose leg on my ctsw 4 month ago (aprox 40 landings). The origonal leg had wear next to the guide pin . I was checking the new leg today only to find an inch of free play and then nothing as i tried to compress the nose leg.I striped the leg down only to find polymer blocks instead of the spring , the polymer blocks have lost there elasticity and are miss shaped so i changed them back to the spring . I phoned MAC BOWDEN and he was saying you have a thread on going about the conversion , So guess im adding my bit !!!!!!!!!!!!!! , any thoughts , Kenny d

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Hi Kenny,

 

The spring is absolutely worse than the red plastic spacers. If you find a squished one then either pull it out and replace it or take another one and cut it in half and add it to the others. This is acceptable. The spring will cause excessive front end wear. I have only seen 1-2 planes like this. Mine was one of them. I just added 1/2 of another spacer and has been good to go ever since.

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Tony, Roger, Jeremy or ??. I waited almost 3/4 year to get the front end "kit" with the polymer rings sent to me for retrofit of my factory spring. Are these rings now more available from FD? If these are degrading in less than 200 hours, have any of you found that FD is providing assistance to those who need to add or replace previously installed rings? Is there anything one can do to lubricate these to increase the longevity of them? I note that the manual says to liberally lube them during installation with Aeroshell 6, etc.

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Hi Dick,

 

There have only been a couple of instances where these have squished down and have some free play. If you already have these one of the regular inspection checks is to grab the prop hub area and lift the plane up and down. This way you can not only feel for loose engine mounts, but if there is any front end play it will show the front end slightly moves up and down on the floor. It will have some free play. Yes you should put a little grease on all the red spacers and washers as you assemble the front end. Grease the brass collars at the tops and bottoms of the tubing, too. Grease will also displace any invading moisture and cut down the rusting inside. I prefer a full synthetic grease like Mobile One because it doesn't seem to dry like a standard grease. I have never had any rust, seizing or dryness from using a full synthetic grease, but I have pulled many a front end and found dry, seized and rusted parts from the original grease. The old spring would rust in place badly, but the new plastic spacers won't.

 

Give me a call and I'll give you a tip or two. I have seen a few put in wrong.

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Hi Roger. Thanks for the advice on prop balance and also on this front end stuff. Golden Spectro synthetic oil eliminated fouled spark plugs during my old dirt biking days and made me a believer of synthetic oils. Synthetic oil (with Mogas) and grease looks like the way to go for lubrication of our CT's. I'll give you a call for the tips. My A&P dealt with it but I want to find out how you loosen and tighten those two nuts on the ends of the rod inside the the front end strut??!

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