After installing the gear legs last weekend I measured the alignment of the gear legs and turns out the left gear leg had excess toe-in. Based on my measurements the gear had 1 degree of toe-in (shooting for 0) so I ordered shims and waited a couple of days for them to be delivered. After installing them it turns out my measurements were incorrect. After figuring out what was wrong with my measuring I remeasured and turns out the left leg is toe-in 2.8 degrees. The is more correction then the shims you can buy from Van’s can do. There shims only go up to .75 degrees. So I decided to put my machining skills to use and machined a shim with a 2.8 degree taper
A little lathe and mill work
The final product
The shim installed
After installing the shim I was concerned about the sideways pre-loading the shim may be putting on the bolts due to the tight tolerance holes and the significant angle (2.8 degrees). I decided to reach out Van’s and get the feedback. I called Van’s Friday afternoon and spoke to Gus. He seemed a bit unsure if 2.8 degrees is too much. So he’s going to discuss with some of the engineers on Monday and we’ll get it figured out. He said they may need to send me a new gear leg =(. For now, the landing gear is on hold…