ffiilffi t - Ballard Sport Aircraft Ltd.

ffiilffi t - Ballard Sport Aircraft Ltd.

Part 6
ByRupert
Gruen
ast month, we installed a heater/defrosterunit ior heating the
irhotoI
Pelicanin cold Canadian winters, attached the irirplane'swings, and
T
prefit the windshield. This time around, we'll examine the processof
installing the landing gear.
Theauthormakes
hishomeonthe
shoresof beautiful
[ake0kanagan,
wherehe'llsoon
be
flyinghisPelican.
Someday
hehopes
to usehisplaneon
thewaterafterhe
convertsit from
gearto
landing
floats.
Ultravia went to great pains to build flexibility into the designof the Pelican'sleg
options. It can be built in taildragger,trigear or float configuration (water-only or
amphibian)with relativeease.This flexibility allows buildersto choosethe appropriate configuration basedon their flying environment.
When consideringwhat configurationto go with, I visitedTed Orlick, a Pelican
pal of mine from Calgary.Ted completedhis PL as a taildraggerand installeda
Subaru engine to power the aircraft. Notice that on the taildragger,the undercarriage
extendsthrough the through tubesin the front sectionofthe fuselage(Photo 1).
I decidedto go a differentroute. I'm fortunateto live on the beautifulshoresof
Lake Okanagan,a world-renowned71-mile-longbodv of iresh Canadianwater,
which is home of the legendaryOgopogo water cre.rtlrre.Fkratsare definitelyin my
future plans.I decidedto go with the trigear configurrrtronfor norv and then retrofit
floats later usinga float conversionkit (availablefrom Ultravia).I'll usethe rear
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through tubes,but then switch to both front and rear u'hen I convertto floats.
66 Krpurrs/Juw2002
WWW.KITPLANES.COM
PHOTO
Photo1
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GRUEN
P H O T O SR: U P E R T
Jur-v200?KrpLnns 67
Pefuan
Photo4
CONTINUED
Maingear
The maingearcomesprefabricated
in two sections:one for the starboard
and one for the port side.(l'm feeling
more comfortable using these technical terms as my project progresses.) The legs are heavy-duty dudes
made from 1.S-inch-diameter4340
steelrods that are hollow and
machine tapered on the outside.The
gear is bent to the appropriate angle,
the flangesare welded into position,
and the whole thing undergoesa thorough heat treatment process.Fortunately,this is all done at the factory.
The inboard endsof eachmaingear
leg meet at mid fuselageinside the
rear through tube with a small gap
betweenthem. I joined them using a
snugly fitting 7-inch-long sleevetube
that slides over each end. An AN322Abolt through the diameterof the
sleeveat midpoint acts as a divider
and pn
off (Ph
insidec
corros
eachlq
oil, wh
inhibi
Pho
board
etlsoc
gearfli
two lq
and st
lnsertG
which
at eac
Aftr
predri
tube,I
et sock
plug i
throug
their I
andthr
to the
desig
gearle
Th€
5-inch
Air FIa
maing
fairing
whee
be ad
instal
NDilI
1 2 1 6N O R T HR D . ,L Y O N S W
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68 Krpurrs/Jul2002
Thr
attach
brack
WWWKITPTANES,COM
Pbobll
and prevents the sleevefrom sliding
off (Photo2). I appliedgreaseto the
insideof the sleeveto preventinternal
corrosion.I also treatedthe insidcot
eachleg to a doseof warmed linscc'd
oil, which helpssealthe surfilccsrnd
inhibit corrosion.
Photo 3 shows the squrrc. \t.1rb o a r d - s i d e ,C N C - m a c h i n c . ih r a c k etlsocketdesignedt() Jc.cpt rhc rig,ht
gear flange.It's sitting on top of the
two legsu'ith thcir rc\la-ctl\.ct1;rnges
and stuh pivot'. I'hc lcq' s'ill be
insertedinto thc.c \r,ri\p()rrbrackets,
w h i c h i n r u r n i r t r r r : h t l rl u s t i n b o a r d
a t e a c hc n . l r t i t h c t h r o u g ht u b e .
A f r c r p r r n r r r : g . r n s. li z i n gs o m e
i,,..1I,,rholcsin the through
predrille..i
tube.I holrcJ:hc lcft and right bracket sockctrlnt(, ;r )\lrion.The gearlegs
plug intt, thc hrrckets insidethe
through tutt'. I hc hracketsthen pass
their lolJ .n ro thc through tube,
its load
and the thr,,ush tul.c transf'ers
to the fu.clr':c.\\ h.lt an ingenious
design!Phoro-l .h,rrsrthe starboard
gear leg 5ccurri tn tt. socket.
The nert \tc[' \\.1\ Io tnlt.lll a pair of
5 - i n c hs i l r e r( . i c rc i r n J . r l l o rr i m sw i t h
Air Hau'k 5.r)rt\ i !rr.. Photo-5r. Each
m a i n g e a rl c g s r l l c r c n t u . r l l vs p o r t a
I .r'rcmhledthe
fairingand s hc.-lp.rn:.
wheelpantsPhoto6 . f'u1th(v s'on't
b e a d d e du n t i l . r f t c rt h r h r l k c ' . r r e
installed
a n d t h e p r l n t r n st r J o n c .
tosegear
T h e s t e e r a b l en o s e g e a rr u h e i s
attached to the fire*'all bv ru'o steel
brackets, a top one (Photo 7l and a
bottom one. The bottom one sPorts
an adjustablesplit flange (Photo 8).
Both brackets have Nylatron insert
hearingsthat encompassthe nosegear
leg. Optimum friction is maintained
on the leg by the bottom bearing
assemblyvia two adjustablebolts on
the split flange and two pairs of steel
cup washers, which will automatically absorb any play as the bearing
-b
-v-
lilnanrr
h)tnr
Complete
kits
[U Plt300'435-8533
ileu{Glashl
llewGlasailff
llt 90223
llt,filll|sl0l|,
lyel|m
1870158fi
^ -50
3
E-=='
2490 25.2 1498
IIIG.
seatsitself and wears over time.
An adiustablebungee-cordlooP
provides oleo travel suspensionof
the nosegearleg (Photo 9) and pulls
the tube down into a locked straightahead position in flight. It accomplishesthis through a ring-collet and
set-screwassemblyat the top of the
tube. A nosegearstop bracket is bolted at the maximum uP-travel Point
now
avdildble!
i||lo@mv'[la$almo|||
t'Jwtt{.l|0tv0lasaiLc0|||
Automated Engine
Monitoring...
..in one instrument! From RPM to
r:eakdetection leaninq, the EIS does it
ill. Includes graphical End digital displays.
customizable- screens, and alarms with
external warninq liqht. Models for oll
enqines...find out why the EIS is the
choice of thousandsof pilots.
$553
$czs 2-cyl
4sboke
2-stroke
Jurv200?Krputes
Pefuan
CONTINUED
abovethe colleton the
firewall (seePhoto7).
Rudder Pedals
and Brakes
I
attached the
nosegear
to the rudder
p e d a l sv i a a p a i r o f
adlustablespring-loaded
(Photo10).
shaftlinkages
Thelinkages
attachto the
n o s e g e aar n d r u d d e r pedalhorns,respectivel5 and the latter passes
throughrwo longitudinal
slotsin thecabinfloor.
The pedalsare of conventional
design.They are configuredin the
classicalstaggered
positionon the
cockpit floor using two split-type
nylon bushings/bearings
per pedal
assembly.The floor in this section
of the fuselageis quite rigid, having
beenreinforcedwith aviation-grade
plywood embeddedinto the PVC
Klegecellfoam core of the fuselage
layup. The reinforcementis all factory completed.
I had the landinggearand rudderpedalparts(plusa few others)pow-
OWNA MACHINE SHOP!
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Machine shown has optional equipment installed*
Iahirote
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Brackets
lhreod
Right Hand-LeftHand
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Derign
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Krpuanrs/Jurv
2002
ForFranklin
$eriesEngines
w
PM
iloBEltDrx
IIRIVE
(PZr)44
644
OA
8.0lbs.lighl
dercoatedat ProtekPowderCoaters
in Kelowna,British Columbia.The
companykindly piggy-backed
my
iob with anotherorder of the same
color in exchange
for two dozenicecold beverages
one 90oFafternoon
lastAugust.Powdercoatingis obviouslythirsty work!
For brakes,I selectedthe dualbrakeoption usingMatco hydraulic
diskbrakes.InPhoto11,themaster
brake cylinderscan be seenbehind
the port pedals,and the secondary
cylindersarevisiblebehindthe srarboardones.
That'sall the work for this time.
The completedlanding-gear
assembly
was a thing of beauty(Photo12).
ThePelicanis comingalongwell,but
I'm surenew challenges
await me in
the next phaseof building.
fP
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
contactRupertGruenat 1828
Millard Court West,Kelowna,B.C.
CanadaVlV 1W1;call250/7639109; e-mailrgruen@sd23.bc.ca.
Contact Ultrauia Aero lnternationalat 152AIndusfiiel,Gatineau,
Q u e b e c C a n a d al 8 P 7 G 7 ; c a l l
819/569-3144;
fax 819/669-8406;
web www.ultrauia.ca;e-mail pelican@ultrauia.ca.
The New Kolb Aircraft Co. is the
U.S.distributorfor the PelicanSport.
For information, call 605/862-9592;
w eb www.tnkolbaircraft,com.
www.KrTPtAJ{ES.C0M
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