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Claudio,

        I have two jacking systems.  I first started with a bottle jack
welded to the top of a car jack stand.  Works great except it tips VERY
easy.  I wouldn't recommend using it to cycle the gear or any other task
where the aircraft could be rocked.  However, it is great for a quick check
of wheel bearing tightness, brake drag, and other small and fast jobs.

        I had a friend of mine build me one of the jacks shown on the
Lancair Mail List web page.  Works great but is more cumbersome and time
consuming to set up.

        What ever jack you use, make sure it will clear the inboard gear
doors since they are very close to the jack point.  You may also want to
reenforce the jack point pad inside the cockpit since some builders have
reported some deformation in this area while on the jacks.  I glassed in
some phenolic ribs around the perimeter of the load pad attaching to the
cockpit closeout rib and the rear of the forward spar.

        I'd go with the aircraft jacks you found.  I don't think the
aircraft settles that much with additional weight, especially with the hard
rubber donut suspension.  Tire pressure will certainly effect the height.

You want enough clearance between the jack and the bottom of the airplane
that you don't risk scratching the belly while your positioning the jacks.

        Another jacking issue is how you connect the jack to the load pad
on the bottom of the aircraft.  The plans call for drilling a small hole in
the load pad to locate the center.  I initially made a small pad to sit on
top of my jack cylinder with a small pin that slips inside of the load pad
hole.  I put a small piece of felt inbetween to protect the finish.  When I
jacked the aircraft up, and then pulled the aircraft tail down to get the
nose wheel off the ground, the aircraft rocks back a considerable amount,
changing the angle between the jack cylinder, and the aircraft load pad.

If you don't have a considerable amount of freedom of movement in this
mount point, your jack will dent the belly of the aircraft, like mine did.

After patching the dent, I redesigned a plate that sits on top of the jack.
 The plate is a piece of steel with a conical hole machined in.  This
conical hole sits on top of a male cone machined into the top of the jack.

This allows the plate to swivel and adjust for irregularities in the
surface between the jack and the belly of the aircraft.

Don Gordon
Orlando, FL
LNC2 - 32825

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