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Lt Dan got sputzees old leggggs.

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Posted

ok, so maybe not everyone will read that using their best Forrest Gump voice, but thats how I was typing it :lol:

 

I picked up the gear that Dave had made for his Sputzee that seemed prone to bending.  The left gear leg was bent but a lil heat and the proper application of a 3 pound hammer to a block of wood fixed that right up.  A quick recovering and it was on to modifying the suspension struts and springs.  The original slot for the suspension to slide in only allowed 2" of gear deflection before they bottomed out and went metal to metal.. well no shit Sherlock, something has to bend when things go metal to metal and 2" of travel isnt very much when you hit a log, rut, snowberm etc.  I ran the numbers for the spring used by airdale and I am pretty certain it is a 425# per inch spring, but max deflection it it is only 1.8"... Thats OK if you grease every landing on a manicured grass strip, but damn sure don't lend itself to the name "bush gear"

 

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I lengthened the slot another 2" and took off the holy shit stiff die spring ( I couldn't compress it at all in my 6" vice on the bench).  I dug around in my pile of snowmachine springs and found a matching set of take offs from an older Skidoo center shock.  I think the spring rate on these are 190# per inch but I am not certain, I couldnt match up part numbers, but dimensions etc led me to believe that is what they were.  I dug up some urethane body bushings that I had bought for my kids 68 dodge that was spose to be a father son hot rod build but the lil bastage sold the car before we did a damn thing to it.. Hence I felt no guilt in heating up a 1" copper pipe and running it through the bushing so it would slide over the tube and give me a buffer before things go metal to metal as well as help center the new larger diameter spring.  I also busted out the trusty dremel kit and lengthened the slots in the tube to give me another 2" of travel before things start to bend.

 

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It took me a few head scratching sessions (probly do to me having set sail with the captain an hour or so earlier in the evening) to figure out why the stance was the same on an old set of 25" good years as it was on the 30" airsteaks on my old gear to figure out that Dave thoughtfully had the gear legs lengthened 3" longer than the bungee wide / tall gear! (ok so I really didnt figure it out till the next day when my ski rigging was way too short...)  That was almost as much of a good surprise as finding out that he also had them built to use 1 1/4" axles!  Sweet, hopefully no more bent axles in my future.  The only down side to the larger axles was that I had to modify the skis and will have to order new wheels this summer when its time to take the long boards off, but I love the larger axles!

 

With 2 people sitting in it the gear does not deflect or sag, but pulling on a wing strut it feels like it does not take as much force as I would like to collapse the springs more than I wanted.  Well as its my normal style, I said damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead and loaded it on the trailer to head for the airport between freezing rain squalls.  I only got 4 turns around the pattern in before the freezing rain decided to show up again so I tied her down and headed home.  I love the increased AOA the taller gear gives me, especially on skis.  The AOA sucked for me before on skis and I had to get around 50 MPH before I could lift off.  Now I can break the ground at 35 and actually use the wing the way its intended to be used.  I took care to grease the landings as I really did not want to fully test the suspension only 10 hours before I had to get on the smoker to come back to work for two weeks but i do think the springs are a little too soft and would not soak up the bumps on skis that a hidden snow ridge or snowmachine track would dish out.

 

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I have a couple sets of springs ordered up for me to try out when I get home.  They are 250# per inch and 325# per inch springs, I am pretty certain they will do the trick for me.  I also ordered up some tubing to make a new cabane vee to drop the center down a few inches to make the pulling forces get spread on both sides instead of a straight pull that likes to buckle the fuse side when you do find those hidden objects.  All in all I am really happy to have the gear and cant wait to further test it out and do a few simple mods that hopefully I can share with every one else who has purchased the "bush gear" and bent something.

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Posted

FWIW, I am not bashing the manufacture too bad on the gear, it appears that they followed the same set up posted by this guy a few years ago... but I don't think that a set of gear being towed down a paved runway or a grass strip is adequate testing for a production gear set up that is being sold as "bush gear"...

 

 

 

:BC:

Avid Spring Gear.doc

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Posted

Glad they're working so far…  I'll let Dave know you are progressing with them.

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Posted

Looks good Leni, we need to get out and put them through the paces when you get back next time.

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Posted

Randy, I get home the 30th and will be tied up with the annual lets get stupid and play with explosives festival at the cabin till the 2nd.. Then weather permitting I will be ready to put some hours on the gear and test it out.  I am also not gonna pay the price Rotax wants for a stator, so I am going to make a wind generator to hang under the gear legs to keep the battery topped off.

 

:BC:

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Posted

What about a snowmobile stator?

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Posted

snogo does not have the dual ignition... only the charge coils went out on mine.  I have everything I need at the house to make the wind driven generator, will just take a couple hours to put it together.  the bonus is it will keep my battery charged when the wind blows too :lol:

 

:BC:

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Posted

Leni,

You might want to start selling, or post your wind generator plans - there is a guy near me at High Ridge, Mo who sells plans for them at $35 a pop.

EDMO

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Posted (edited)

How about a pully driven little alternator. Like off a lawnmower. Plenty of juice.

Did you try Mississippi power or Rotax Rick for a used one?

Edited by Av8r3400

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Posted

Rotax Rick does not have one. I did not try ms power though.  no place to run the pulley on a 582. 

 

Ed,

 

I saw an article online about a guy making one out of the electric RC start motor and a prop.. of which I have multiple ones at the house.  Just fab a quick mount, use a prop adapter for an RC electric plane and a diode inline to keep it from back feeding and your in business.  Just have to play with the prop size to get the RPM range I want for cruise power output.  Seems pretty simple and cheap as I have everything at the house to make it with.  :lol:

 

http://www.pipercubforum.com/windgen.htm

 

When I am running everything in the plane.  GPS, nav, strobe, radio, defrost fans and landing lights, I am pulling a bit over 1.6 amps so everything should work out just perfect. 

:BC:

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Posted

I'm disappointed, Leni.  You're a Q/C guy with a machine shop at your disposal.  There isn't anything that can't be fabricated…  Why not drive a small, single wire alternator off the back side of the through bore on the gearbox?  

 

 

 

C'mon, Mister, git on it!

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Posted

The gear looks good...I like your Magic shoes...

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Posted

Larry, the way the radiators are in the cowling, I had to clearance the filler adapter to clear the shaft as it is. No way I have room to run an alternator off the engine. Besides, there is no way I'm gonna do anything that robs more hp from the 582, it's gutless enough :lol: I'm hoping this will be enough to make me get off my ass and get the 800 going!

:BC:

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Posted

Now, that's not very nice .. I built that 582 ....

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Posted

ok, its only 64 hp to begin with and I don't want to give up a single pony... :lmao: 

 

:BC:

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Posted

I'm disappointed, Leni.  You're a Q/C guy with a machine shop at your disposal.  There isn't anything that can't be fabricated…  Why not drive a small, single wire alternator off the back side of the through bore on the gearbox?  

 

 

 

C'mon, Mister, git on it!

 

ok, so if I am going to fabricate, why not just rewind?  I have a spare stator that the lighting coils also fried on, so I ordered up some high temp .041" magnet wire and will try just rewinding the spare stator.  Ifn that goes well and ohms out properly when I am done I will pull the engine and swap out the stator.  I will do a new thread and post pics / video tutorial type thingy majigger. 

 

I looked into the small altenators and may end up going that route if its a fail :lol:

 

The new springs are still in transit as they are coming out of Canada... they have been sitting on the US side of the border now for close to a week with no movement made on the tracking.. I know its silly season, but I would hope our postal service can get the springs delivered in short order so I can make some flights to the lodge to re-supply them.  They have been without a supply run for 12 weeks now due to our nasty weather and the river not freezing up to be able to make a freight run with the snowmachines.  Lack of snow has kept the 135 guys from swapping over to skis to be able to fly supplies out there.  Looks like I have a bunch of trips in the near future to get them some basics brought in.

 

:BC:

 

:BC:

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Posted

Leni,

Could you make the trip by adding a spare battery? Springs may be on the terrorist list!!!!

EdMO

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Posted

I will do the trips just charging the battery in between.. but it wont take more than a couple hours to rewind the stator if I keep my head outta the bottle of Captain Morgans :lol: 

 

I guess the big thing now will be to get the damn freezing rain to clear out of here.  Frickin January (almost) and its raining in AK not snowing.  That gets a great big WTF from me...

 

:BC:

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Posted (edited)

Yeh, No snow is a bummer for Alaskans - We had no snow one year and the temps dropped out of sight in Anchorage - pipes were freezing 10 feet down - 54F and sunshine here today - Nice Christmas traveling weather!  Whoops - just got thru mowing grass and oak leaves - weather said now 62F! - but cold, arctic air heading this way tomorrow - just hoping for the snow to stay North...

EdMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

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Posted

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

Kenneth,  You can also read my post in MIA, and maybe look for some of Joey's posts on the Bush gear.  EDMO

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Posted

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

skidoo.  503190854

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Posted

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

skidoo.  503190854

TJ, what spring rate do those have? I'm still uncertain which ones Leni used that worked out since he stated he had two different springs he was going to try. 

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Posted

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

Kenneth,  You can also read my post in MIA, and maybe look for some of Joey's posts on the Bush gear.  EDMO

Ed the Pietenpol already has cub style gear on it but it's a heavy die spring. I'm just worried about bottoming it out. I'm probably over thinking it though since it has 320 hours on it that way. Although I'm rebuilding for some sundown. I never got the story of what happened and why the right wheel broke on landing causing the need to rebuild it in the first place. 

Just looking for something to "fix" that may not be broken to start with. I like have options though. 

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Posted (edited)

Leni, 

What spring set did you end up settling on for the gear? Seems this thread just died with no resolution. I'm seriously liking the way you used the snowmachine springs and might steal the idea from you for a gear upgrade on the Pietenpol.

skidoo.  503190854

TJ, what spring rate do those have? I'm still uncertain which ones Leni used that worked out since he stated he had two different springs he was going to try. 

Leni posted the Die springs were 425 lb, and the Skidoo was 325 - in my MIA post.  I also posted about adding the crosstube in the upper V.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO
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