wanted 3/4" axle

[cliff 45]

Need a 3/4" axle for an Avid heavey hauler. Only need one but will buy a pair if necessary. Contact Paul at    avidflyer8ja@hotmail.com

[EDMO 1078]

Cliff,

      I may be wrong, but I think you can just buy some heavy-wall tubing from Spruce.  PM or ask Leni what to get - he has replaced his before.

EDMO

[akflyer 1427]

I just bought 3/4" X .250" 4130 tubing from the local metal supply house and had a machinist buddy thread them for me on the lathe.

 

That is the quickest way to get the axles.  If your going to have some made, you may as well have a couple sets made as you WILL bend them.  I am on set 4 or 5 just from normal flying here.... Granted, I may abuse them more than some, but they do bend and its nice to just be able to pull one bolt, slip them out and put a new one in.  Make sure you use a GOOD grease or anti seize when you put them in or you will have pure hell trying to get them out later down the road. 

 

I used a piece of tubing that would slip over the axle and some hardened all thread with tall nuts on it to make a puller to get the last set of axles out of my gear this spring.  It still took A LOT of heat and cussing ( I taught myself a few new words) and a few beers to get one axle out.

 

 

[wypaul 448]

Matco sells the 3/4" axles.

[akflyer 1427]

I think they do sell them, and if your running stock wheels they are fine.  I have to run wider wheels for the 30" airstreaks so the ones they sell are not long enough for me.  EDIT:  I bet that if you call George at Matco, he will make them what ever length you need.  I have had nothing but first rate experiences with Matco, they have always been very helpful!!

 

I am not sure if we have this info on the suppliers list "thread" or not, but maybe we should update it if we don't.

 

[wypaul 448]

They sell a 7.7" length and the 10.4" axle WHLA22 in the 3/4" axles.

[cliff 45]

Thanks for the responses, but the axles aren't for me. They are for my buddy who bent an axle this weekend and only has a cell phone for accessing the internet. I will pass along the info and if you have an axle please contact Paul at his email address. I will recomend that he calls Matco.  Thanks, you guys have all the answers.

[EZFlap 12]

I'm replacing the left and right main landing gear assemblies on Avid B S/N 234. I was able to locate a set of new unused stock Kitfox gears which I believe will fit my fuselage.

 

My wheels are Matco's, and are marked M62. On this airplane, in my best back woods bush pilot drawl... I got me some big tires

 

I have no proof one way or another that the axles are Matco, but I made an assumption they are, because the owner would have likely bought the matching axles at the time of the wheel/tire upgrade. 

 

The axles that were on the airplane originally had three mounting bolts, and yet everything on the Matco website shows that the axles have four bolts. Do any of you know whether Matco just increased the number of bolts they used from three to four?

 

Also the KF landing gears have a square mounting pad for the axles, and the previous (Avid) gears have a round mounting pad. Does anyone here know of any reason I can't trim the square mounting pad to round, so that the brakes will fit?

 

I know I can just call George, but since I'm not quite ready to order the parts I didn't want call him just yet. Sooner or later, I'll be ordering a new wheel half (one was bent during the landing incident) and two axles.

Edited 2 Dec 2014 by EZFlap

[akflyer 1427]

The axles just run through the sleeve on the landing gear and you drill the landing gear / axle and put a single bolt through it as a pin.  If they are using axles that bolt onto the brake plate, that is not the "normal" set up.  I will try to remember to get some pics tomorrow when I get home if no one else posts a picture of the "normal" set up.

 

The square versus round... I would just trim it.  That is just for mounting the brake caliper in a "normal" installation.  If you have "big" tires, then you will need extended axles.  I have to run (2) 1" spacers in my matco wheels on each side to get the big tires to fit the rims   mine were custom made my a machinist buddy on his lathe in about 10 minutes.  I just bought a 3' long piece of 3/4" 4130 and had him thread each end, then I cut them to length at the house.  I would rather waste 18" of material than come up 1/2" too short (story of my life it seems) 

 

[EZFlap 12]

Thanks... my wheels have spacers in the middle already, because John had the larger tires and brakes operational when the airplane was wrecked.

 

I'm confused... if the axle does not mount to the brake plate with the three or four bolts I was asking about (meaning it mounts with only one through-bolt through the sleeve tube), then what is the three or four hole bolt pattern in the Matco axle for?

[EDMO 1078]

I had some Matco 62 wheels, and the axles had 4 bolts to bolt up to my Grove gear - I think you better talk to George - I believe that Leni is describing the original setup like the Douglass wheels - But, If that setup works for him, then he knows more than I do.  My axles were 1 1/4" diameter.
EDMO

Edited 2 Dec 2014 by Ed In Missouri

[EZFlap 12]

Thanks Ed, but these are tube axles that slide into the sleeve on a welded bungee style gear. They are not flange type billet axles for an aluminum gear.

 

Is the brake caliper supposed to bolt to the brake plate on the gear, or to the bolt pattern on the axle... or are the brake plate and the axle bolt pattern supposed to be mounted together with the caliper bolted to them both??

[1avidflyer 1983]

Bill, the holes you are talking about are for mounting the hydrolic brake assembly. Square or round plate doesn't matter as long as everything clears. Like Leni said, the axel slids (sometimes very tightly)into the tube and is pinned in place with a 3/16" bolt going through both. Jim Chuk

[EZFlap 12]

Being from California, and originally having had blonde hair as a child, I'm still confused.

 

1) There is a steel plate welded into the landing gear, integral to the welded tube assembly. It is round on the old gear and square on the new gear. The old gear had three holes in this plate. The new (unused) gear has no holes in it. The "sleeve" tube goes through the center of this plate.

 

2)  There is ANOTHER plate welded (or machined) on the axle itself. It is a round plate. Matco's website shows four holes in this round plate. This round plate is welded about in the middle of the main axle tube, halfway between where the axle is "pinned" into the sleeve and the threads for the wheel bearing retaining nut.

 

3) Which one of these plates does the brake bolt onto?

 

4) Why are there two plates?

 

5) Which one takes the braking load into the fuselage?

[thebriman 69]

The plate welded on you gear leg was for the brake plate.  Should be square with 4 holes, the bottom hole of which is most likely cut off.  This was for the old style Matco Brakes.  The old axles did not have the welded plate halfway down the axles, but were completely smooth and were retained by one an3 through bolt. The brake plate attached to the gear leg.  The welded plate on your new axles are for the brake plate on new Matco brakes to attach to. The AN3 through bolt takes the braking load into the fuse.

 

I modified mine so that the plate welded onto the new axle not only holds the brake plate, but also attaches to the flange on the gear leg through holes that I drilled. I have it so it's all bolted together.  Also I have the through bolt at the back end but that is not my only means for attachment.  

[Av8r3400 1178]

A photo would go a long ways here, EZ...

[EZFlap 12]

Will try to do a photo. To the previous poster, thank you for the detailed explanation, now I get it! I think I will also try to bolt the two brake plates together, to have a second load path.

[EZFlap 12]

I may have been looking at the wrong part and spoken before I should have.... told you I was once a blonde.

 

I will re-visit this subject after I take apart the other axle and I'm sure that I can properly ID what I am seeing. Until then, nobody waste their time on helping me figure this out, there's plenty of other questions and advice I need more than the axle configuration.

[1avidflyer 1983]

Hey Bill, back when you were a blonde (your picture on the back country pilot's site?) you were a lot cuter. LOL Jim Chuk

[EZFlap 12]

Yeah, the doctors can do miracles these days, but this time it looks as though they did the reverse. I couldn't imagine poor Candace waking up one morning and looking like me !