Hello Everyone,

 

Maybe someone on the list can help me with a nose gear problem on a Lancair 320. I’m trying to replace the nose fork and wheel and I’m having great trouble.

 

We got a new fork from Lancair and there are several issues with it, that may or may not be related. First, my engineer and inspector here in England are not happy with the manufacturing quality. It is not quite symmetrical and there are also doubts about the finish.

 

More obviously, though, it is quite different from the old one, and it doesn’t fit. The existing fork and wheel is a tight fit in the gear well. The new fork is of thicker material and wider, so we would have a problem even if we could get to that stage. We also have a new axle, which is minutely different to the old one, and new bearings and seals and bushes, that are noticeably different from the old ones.

 

Now, the new bits will not fit together properly. It would require an enormous tension on the axle bolt to close up the fork. And even if we could, it wouldn’t fit in the gear well.

 

Moreover, there is no combination of old and new parts that will go together perfectly; we always end up with the wrong axle length.

 

The engineer has been in touch with the factory, but is getting nowhere. Maybe it’s difficult doing it across the Atlantic. At the very least we are going to have to decide which parts to send back for checking. But perhaps someone on the list can help with some questions:

 

Is this tight fit in the gear well normal? We have some witness marks on the old fork.

 

Has the nose gear on the LNC2 been redesigned at some stage?

 

Is the gear different between the Lancair 320 and the Legacy different? Is it possible that we have some Legacy parts by mistake?

 

 

Many thanks,

 

Nick Long