430 Nose leg mount and rudder effort / load

·         Terence Curtis

·         Topic Author

·         Offline

·         Posts: 13

·         

·         

·         

Hello Doug, re the 340 Annual,

see attached Photo of the nose leg mounting, the flock appears (visually) separated from the base, is that just movement in the nylon / paint / flock / base ?

any concern ?

Also re the Nose rudder steering.

we find the effort load on the rudder quite high, and talking to Ken in Orange his comment was its certainly heavier than the 230 they have.

is there a way to confirm the spring and shaft assy?

would like to back off the rudder effort some what to have better rudder control in cross wind landings>

thoughts?

I can do more Photo ..

Attachments:

·          

·          

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Doug Smith

·         

·         Offline

·         Posts: 287

·         

Hi Terance,
Hm, the ones I'm used to looking at are not usually painted... but no, cracking like that is not normal. It might mean that the leg is a tight fit in the bushes (they need to get reamed to suit the leg on final assembly).

High rudder load isn't likely to be coming from those pushrods through the firewall... I think the first thing to try would be to disconnect those push rods and see how hard it is to turn the leg in the housing by hand (it should be pretty darn free). Looking at that cracking I'm wondering if your nose leg may have taken a knock at some time and if there might be something bent in there and binding up.

Also, it'd be worth looking to see if there is any ballast in your ventral fin. J430's usually like a little weight back there to get them where they need to be CG-wise, and adding that ballast takes weight off the nose leg which helps the pedal force a bit.

Finally, I'd check to see how healthy the spring rubber is. Sometimes, if the nose leg weight is a bit high, they can degrade and crack which drops the nose of the aircraft and can cause issues with the wheel spat rubbing on the ground etc.

Regards,
Doug.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Terence Curtis

·         Topic Author

·         Offline

·         Posts: 13

·         

·         

·         

Doug . Ok i will look a bit deeper.

By pushrods i was wondering if they can be reversed which may add liad to the springs..

Tks Terry

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Doug Smith

·         

·         Offline

·         Posts: 287

·         

Hi Terry,
I would have thought it would be obvious if the pushrods were in backwards - pedals misaligned etc - but I guess anything is possible. Let us know what you find!
Regards,
Doug.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Terence Curtis

·         Topic Author

·         Offline

·         Posts: 13

·         

·         

·         

Doug hi,

Ok thanks, we had close look , there was really nothing bent / broken and the "cracks" is just the paint adhesion and bit movement, as different materials.

We did find a few things that combined,

there was minor "stiffness" in the Leg bush, now very nice and free rotation, there was no real "wear" as such and only small movement as would expect on non precision device.

there was also minor "stiffness" both the Rudder bars, now all ok,

there was some apparent misalignment in the LEFT side pushrod that had again minor "foul" on the firewall at the 75% travel as the angle increased, now ok,

the Rudder stops are now correct and on position,

the Nose wheel alignment was apparently off center, and explains the tendency to go left, in ground and landing, now ok,

the Rudder and Nose wheel and pedal alignment is now excellent and the center spring balance is now excellent, if need be we can tighten up the springs and add load back , if necessary there is tolerance to adjust as needed.

generally nothing other than DETAILS DETAILS as that's what matters,

now the rudder is quite good and "normal"

yet to fly, but confident now.

the Annual is in DEC and they can refit nuts and replace etc as needed.

so as result comfortable with all that,

tks,

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Doug Smith

·         

·         Offline

·         Posts: 287

·         

Great news Terence 🙂

The devil is in the details, any engineer or mechanic will tell you that!

Regards,
Doug.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

·         Terence Curtis

·         Topic Author

·         Offline

·         Posts: 13

·         

·         

·         

Doug, yes very aware of that,

so all good now i think,

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.