Autodidact
Well-Known Member
I have only seen a few of these articulated type gear on homebuilts, forgive me if this idea is common knowledge.
Suppose you have a Teenie Two or similar and you want more ground clearance and better rough field capability. I worked this out a little, and if for example a maximum rate descent landing were about 3g worth of force on the wheels, the gear in the sketch attached below would need to withstand about 900 lb per side. This would be about 5 in vertical travel and would compress the shock approximately 2 inches which would be 2000 lb at the shock because of the different moment arm. The attachment brackets to the wing would have to be redesigned for a little more strength. But the gear itself is pretty simple with just tubes, pivot points/brackets, etc. This dwg is a facsimile of a Chinese "pit bike" monoshock about 10" center to center and 1000 lb-in spring rate. They cost $55-$60 on ebay more and less. Yes it would be a little more drag and just a little more weight but with a larger slower turning prop and rough field ability more important than top speed it would be worth doing IMO. Any way, I thought it might be interesting to someone:
Suppose you have a Teenie Two or similar and you want more ground clearance and better rough field capability. I worked this out a little, and if for example a maximum rate descent landing were about 3g worth of force on the wheels, the gear in the sketch attached below would need to withstand about 900 lb per side. This would be about 5 in vertical travel and would compress the shock approximately 2 inches which would be 2000 lb at the shock because of the different moment arm. The attachment brackets to the wing would have to be redesigned for a little more strength. But the gear itself is pretty simple with just tubes, pivot points/brackets, etc. This dwg is a facsimile of a Chinese "pit bike" monoshock about 10" center to center and 1000 lb-in spring rate. They cost $55-$60 on ebay more and less. Yes it would be a little more drag and just a little more weight but with a larger slower turning prop and rough field ability more important than top speed it would be worth doing IMO. Any way, I thought it might be interesting to someone:
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