My Long-EZ nose gear won't stay up!

[Lowlevldevl]

The nose gear in the Long-EZ I recently acquired doesn't seem to want to stay in the retracted position until we're up into the cruise. If I wind it up after take-off it might stay put sometimes, but if I pull an extra G during the climbout it just lets itself back down again. I'm new to this and even though I've searched these boards, Canard Pusher archives and other forums, can't see anything to explain the cause of the problem or what needs to be adjusted/ tightened to fix it. Thanks in advance.
Don

[Waiter]

A modification that was outlined in the CPs was to use a Sears 1/4 inch ratchet wrench with the handle cut off.  The wrench was modified so the origin landing gear handle ran through the middle of it. The wrench was then embedded in the instrument panel.  The direction lever of the wrench would then only allow the gear handle to turn in one direction, either UP or DOWN.  

This modification not only had the advantage of preventing the gear from falling out of its UP position, but also would prevent the gear from bouncing out of its over center DOWN position.

Good luck

(NOTE: I was going to make a comment about purchasing Viagra from one of the "other" posts, and this should help you keep your "gear" up.  But I decided not to, as this would probably be considered poor taste)

Waiter

[jze]

Hi Don, In regard to your nose gear droop, my long has a ratchet crank handle which stops the gear from unwinding to a partial  down postion. I am not the builder of my longez but I believe the ratchet handle was supplied by ken brock who is no longer in business, so I am of no real help to you, but hopefully somebody from the states might be. I live down south in Victoria and have owned my longez for near three years and has given my wife and I the best adventures we have ever had in a aeroplane. Every year at this time we fly north, last year it was Longreach, Kurrumba, Alice Springs. Coober Pedy. We are planning our next trip for this year and seeing that I have not ever seen a long ez except for the one that I own and that we are heading north shortly perhaps I could flight plan your location into our trip. Let me know what you think and we will take it from there.  
                                                          Pete

[Lowlevldevl]

Waiter,
Thanks for that. I'll make a more thorough search of the CP's to try to find the instructions for that mod.

Pete,
I just bought my Long at Easter. I use it to commute to Ag-pilotting jobs up and down the east coast. I'm totally happy with it so far but can see I can spend probably what I paid for it on upgrades! Strong electric pitch trim, Electronic ignition, Nose lift, EZ pilot auto pilot, Blue mountain, Garmin 480, Fuel injection, Graphic engine monitor.....................ad infinitum.
Home is the Atherton Tablelands but I'm hardly ever there. There are another three Long-EZ's in Cairns.
My email address is Don_Blanch@hotmail.com
Drop me a line and lets see if we can catch up sometime. I'm in central western NSW right now, Weipa (FNQ)in a week.
Cheers,
Don

[Jack]

The nose gear in the Long-EZ I recently acquired doesn't seem to want to stay in the retracted position until we're up into the cruise. n

If your tire pressure is right.  You might try what I did.  Install a coat hangar part off a bolt on the dash and after you wind the gear up hook the handle over the coat hangar.  You just need a lil up pressure to keep the gear up.  

Cheers;

Jack

[MacGyver]

A loose NLG system can be fixed in a variety of ways.  The ratchet installation is a nice one.  Note that this part was not produced by Brock, however.  In addition, to bore the hole through the center of the ratchet, the metal was annealed, drilled, then re-heat-treated to achieve the original hardness (an annealed ratchet core would not last terribly long).  I believe the NLG ratchet assembly was sold by an EZ builder, back in the 80's and 90's.  I cannot recall the gent's name.

Overall, I would avoid band-aiding a NLG system that tends to lower itself when retracted.  This is a sign of looseness, and could show its potential ugliness during landing or taxi.  I had a reasonably tight system on my first VariEze, and while taxiing at Mahlon Sweet (Eugene, OR) many years ago, I had the nose gear collapse.  Yes, the sucker was all the way down (and "locked" too).  A perfect combination of jostles (caused by taxiing over a series of ruts on the ramp set up related oscillations (up and down) of the nose.  After about 6 - 10 bounces, WHAM!  Down she came.  Addition of the ratchet was a must at that point, in spite of having a properly rigged retract mechanism (per the CPs).

For what it's worth,

[Drew]

You mentioned a Noze lift as part of your potential upgrades.  Obviously if you do that, you eliminate the problem.

Was not sure if your list was a real list or a wish list of things to come.

[2muchepoxy]

I bought the aforementioned nose gear ratchet kit earlier this year. Bill Theeringer is selling kits for this. Not sure if he was the originator of the kit or if he took it over from someone. See website:

http://149.174.34.11/homepages/Composite_Aircraft_Accessories/nosegear.htm

[Lowlevldevl]

Drew,
Yeah mostly its a wish list. If I can fix this problem with the ratchet, the EZ-Lift will fall a little further down the list.

MacGuyver, Jack, 2muchepoxy,
Thanks for that, the ratchet sounds like its exactly what I need.

[Drew]

I don't have the plans handy---but check the nose section (might even be in the CPs).  There is supposed to be a little bump towards the pilot side of the gearwell that the nose tire sort of has to roll over to get into the well.  It just puts a little pressure on the tire to get it up---and keep it up.

From what I remember, the rachet purpose was more to keep the over center lock from jumping out of the over center lock while the nose gear was bouncing around during taxiing or landing rollout.  However, the other benefit would be to keep the gear up.

[rglos]

I just replaced mine for a Wilhelms nose lift. It was in for 20 years.

On removal, I noticed the spacer behind the worm gear was gone. This allowed the shaft and the worm gear to move forward and back. Too far back and the worm would come back far enough to disengage from the drive gear and the leg would fall. My solution was to push the shaft in while cranking. I let this go on for a month or so before replacing everything.
Letting the gear down was not a problem as the force was in opposite directions

Once it was out and I noticed it, it was a simple fix with spacer washers. It only takes about an hour to remove the complete assembly for inspection. It might be something easy to fix and that way you can relube the two gears.

[Gilbert DRIEUX]

I bought the aforementioned nose gear ratchet kit earlier this year. Bill Theeringer is selling kits for this. Not sure if he was the originator of the kit or if he took it over from someone. See website:

http://149.174.34.11/homepages/Composite_Aircraft_Accessories/nosegear.htm

Hello Don,
I made this mod last winter; easy to do, and works well.
I bought ratchet by web (google "ratchet"...), and find a set of ratchets in England with metric size (I'm French... :oops: ). You should find the same in US.
I made the hexagonal piece from a brass "nut" originaly dedicated for home water line job (wash-machine, shower, laundry room, etc...).

Regards.

(Waiter ....  :lol: ) !

[easyrider]

While on the subject of Nose Gear I have the following recommendation.
Replace all the winding mechanism tubing with solid aluminium rod.
I had just got back from flying Young Eagles and was winding the gear up to park the Long when the handle come off in my hand!.
The tubing had sheared across the rivets to the winding handle. I only replaced that short piece with rod and about a month later it sheared at the universal joint going into the worm drive. I now have rod through the whole system.
Easyrider
LongEZ 93EZ

[N29EZ]

Hi;
I happened accross your post on an internet search for something else.  I took over the nose gear ratchet business from Curt Smith several years ago.  The ratchet is different now, having been updated with the help of Mike Melvil, and can be seen on my web site.

http://149.174.34.11/homepages/Composite_Aircraft_Accessories/nosegear.htm

HTH, and email me if you have any questions.