Airdale wide bush gear installation

[C5Engineer 1170]

I have Kitfox IV legs on my plane and I found out real quick that the way Kitfox backplates are set up with Matco brakes and Douglas wheels is totally different from a stock Avid set up. I had to redrill the backplate to make it work. I also had to add a 1/8 washer to the spacer. I'm 15 hours into this project and still have to finish it up and plumb the brakes.

New backplate

Old backplate and notice the 1/8" of metal protruding off the backplate that's why I had to add a washer

You can see the new holes I drilled in relation to the old ones

Bungees gone forever

One old one new

Almost finished.. I was having a bear getting all 4 bolts to line up and gave it up for today but it's really close.

I can't believe how big it is now! I have 31" of prop clearance with my 70" warp drive!! I'll update this thread with pics when it's finished.

I am 5'10 notice where the spinner is.

10" wider and quite a bit taller

[herman pahls 9]

Joey

I am interested in doing the same gear conversion for my Kitfox.

How much weight gain if any?

How easy is it to connect with Airdale to discuss the possibility of moving the gear forward to move more weight to the tail.

You mentioned that someone you know has moved the gear forward.

Do you know how that worked out and the contact info.

Thanks Herman

[Bandit 286]

Looking good Joey! You are going to love that gear.

[Av8r3400 1179]

Joey

I am interested in doing the same gear conversion for my Kitfox.

How much weight gain if any?

How easy is it to connect with Airdale to discuss the possibility of moving the gear forward to move more weight to the tail.

You mentioned that someone you know has moved the gear forward.

Do you know how that worked out and the contact info.

Thanks Herman

Herman -

Give Brett at Airdale a call. I don't know about the forward movement of the axles but he'll let you know. Also be sure to let him know you are working on a Kitfox not an Avid. As Joey found out, Kitfox brakes are different from the Avid brakes. He will put on the proper backing plates for you.

Try something: Tell him Larry sent you to see him. (He may respond quicker to a voice-mail.)

[C5Engineer 1170]

As promised pics of the finished product...well mostly finished I am waiting on a couple of ferrel's to finish plumbing the brakes. She's a monster compared to her original set up.

Original set up with mechanical go kart brakes and golf cart tires

After my first set of modified Kitfox gear with matco brakes and a huge wheel and tire upgrade

After with the new gear

Will have a report on performance by the weekend.

[ChrisBolkan 130]

That gear conversion looks SICK!

Chris Bolkan

[Av8r_Sed 82]

Joey,

That looks like the ultimate setup. Nice work! Looking forward to the report and maybe some video?

-- Paul S

[SuberAvid 617]

Joey,

The new gear looks great. Love those jacked up Avids. Mine is 65" at the spinner, just wonderering what others have?

Gotta have big gear and big tires. With big gear and big tires you can take on any challengers! LOL. I thought this was pretty funny; this past Saturday they had the annual FAA pancake breakfast at Palmer and Elmendorf brought a C17 so I had to get a picture of my SuberAvid with it.

Also, one of the guys in the Achorage EAA chaper just finished his Cristian Eagle last week. He flew it to the breakfast with 4 hours on it; pretty cool!

[FoxDB 17]

Joey,

The new gear looks great. Love those jacked up Avids. Mine is 65" at the spinner, just wonderering what others have?

Gotta have big gear and big tires. With big gear and big tires you can take on any challengers! LOL. I thought this was pretty funny; this past Saturday they had the annual FAA pancake breakfast at Palmer and Elmendorf brought a C17 so I had to get a picture of my SuberAvid with it.

Also, one of the guys in the Achorage EAA chaper just finished his Cristian Eagle last week. He flew it to the breakfast with 4 hours on it; pretty cool!

Super avid,

My Kitfox would be 60" to the center of a spinner like yours if I had one. The prop to ground clearance is 23 1/2". I built my own gear and designed it to be 4" taller than the original gear. I have the Nanco N800 tires.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Well I put about 8 landings in the dirt on my gear yesterday. I am VERY happy with it!! The firsts thing I noticed is how much more solid it felt while taxiing. The nose actually stays where you point it and because each gear cannot move independently of each other it just feels better. I just let it fly off for the first take off. I did one landing on the pavement and it's night and day difference. The roll out is much easier now. I did 6 stop and goes on a short dirt strip. I can get the nose much higher just before touchdown now using power to control my descent. Before if I tried that the tail would always hit first. Same thing on take off. I can pull it off the ground without the tail hitting a couple of seconds faster than I was before. Take off rolls were about 3-4 seconds with no wind. I only did one short cruise period and it seems I may have lost 2mph at the most. A small price to pay for the 100% better ground handling and even better short field performance. I would not hesitate for a second to do it again. OH ya and it looks totally awesome too

[SuberAvid 617]

Super avid,

My Kitfox would be 60" to the center of a spinner like yours if I had one. The prop to ground clearance is 23 1/2". I built my own gear and designed it to be 4" taller than the original gear. I have the Nanco N800 tires.

That looks great! And like Joey says, I think it makes the plane land and take off easier and better, including wheel landings, with the taller gear. There is probably a point where that doesn't apply though. Maybe that Cub with 30" extended gear found it