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Hangar Flying / Cleveland Axles, Matco Wheels - Best Wishes - Denver
« on: August 25, 2011, 11:56:22 PM »
Hello there,
I am sorry this is a long story but I will try to keep it as short as I can,
While I was growing up, my father built a varieze, (N86EZ) (http://www.fri-prod-dev.com/plane/index.html) Finished in 1986, he and I spent many great years aviating all over the Rocky Mountain and mid west regions. But, roughly 8 years ago he decided to part with the finest aircraft he (or I) could ever hope to fly. (I recommended against the sale BTW) Since then, we have had a Glasair and an RV6, but both aircraft fell somewhat short of our expectation of what could be.
A little less than a year ago we decided to start looking for another canard, and after several trips to looks a at potential aircraft that just weren't "the one" we found a beautiful Cozy 3 with 800 hours and excellent workmanship. The purchase completed, the builder ferried the AC to Erie Municipal (KEIK) just north of Denver CO. Unfortunately upon arrival the left brake reportedly felt "a little funky" and it was decided that my father (1300+ hours in canards) would make his first solo flight after he and I had the chance to sort out the brake issue.
A few days later, after some bleeding of the brakes, we did a few taxi tests and found that the Cleveland brakes weren't entirely ineffective, but close. In retrospect it was likely that some air had gotten into the system and had just not been entiely bled out. However my Dad (who for some reason a die hard Matco guy) decided that some new Matco brakes were in order. I welcomed the project as a chance to become more mechanically familliar with the aircraft, and we dove into the project. After getting the plane off it's gear we found that the right gear leg had had a heat indecent at some point and that the camber on the right wheel was off significantly. More importantly we found that the right front main gear attach tab had broken loose, probably in the same indecent.
It was evident that the AC had flown for some time with these issues, a testament to the strength of these planes. After some serious head scratching, CAD rendering, machining, elbow grease, and did I mention head scratching we had the attach tab and both axles perfect again (except for some ugly holed in the side of the fuselage and back seat). All that was left was to get the wheels on fill in the holes and we were mostly good to go.
Here is where the story gets... well just read.
Saturday July 9th (1130 am) my Dad was turning into the airport to work on the plane and was struck head on (60mph) by a 25 year old girl on prescription medication that had fallen asleep at the wheel. The details aren't important, but on a scale of 1-10 the accident was at least an 8.5. A medical helicopter (based on the field) airlifted him to one of the best trauma hospitals in the country where he spent two weeks in a coma. He has suffered a laundry list of injurys, a traumatic brain injury included, but he has been recovering exceptionally well. During his time in the ICU a mass was discovered in his brain that was later diagnosed as a stage 3 cancerous brain tumor. Next Wednesday will be the beginning of the cancer treatment starting with the resection of the tumor.
Personal issues aside, my problem is this: I need to get this plane back on it's gear and run the engine as it has not run in almost four months. The particulars of getting the Matco wheels to play nicely with the Cleveland axles was a ball that was definitely in my Dad's court. Some of the parts were lost or destroyed in the accident, and I think I have sourced and ordered most of the parts needed to finnish the project. But, with all that has been going on (three businesses one of them his and I'm an only child) I have not been able to devote the time to properly sort the problem out myself. If anyone has had a similar project I would very much like to talk with you, if for nothing else than to make sure I am on the right track. It just doesn't seem right that the spacers and castle nuts rest against the rubber grease seals of the bearing.
Thank you for letting me share my story. I want to mention that I do not think the builder was aware that he was selling us these issues, (at least the attach tab) and I am glad my Dad and I have had a chance to get to know this AC as well as we have.
thank you even more if you have some helpful insight.
I am available most weekdays, and evenings. I know that there are probably really easy ways to straighten this out, but I honestly just need some insight.
Call if you can
Thanks,
Steven R Franseen
(720)296-1548
I am sorry this is a long story but I will try to keep it as short as I can,
While I was growing up, my father built a varieze, (N86EZ) (http://www.fri-prod-dev.com/plane/index.html) Finished in 1986, he and I spent many great years aviating all over the Rocky Mountain and mid west regions. But, roughly 8 years ago he decided to part with the finest aircraft he (or I) could ever hope to fly. (I recommended against the sale BTW) Since then, we have had a Glasair and an RV6, but both aircraft fell somewhat short of our expectation of what could be.
A little less than a year ago we decided to start looking for another canard, and after several trips to looks a at potential aircraft that just weren't "the one" we found a beautiful Cozy 3 with 800 hours and excellent workmanship. The purchase completed, the builder ferried the AC to Erie Municipal (KEIK) just north of Denver CO. Unfortunately upon arrival the left brake reportedly felt "a little funky" and it was decided that my father (1300+ hours in canards) would make his first solo flight after he and I had the chance to sort out the brake issue.
A few days later, after some bleeding of the brakes, we did a few taxi tests and found that the Cleveland brakes weren't entirely ineffective, but close. In retrospect it was likely that some air had gotten into the system and had just not been entiely bled out. However my Dad (who for some reason a die hard Matco guy) decided that some new Matco brakes were in order. I welcomed the project as a chance to become more mechanically familliar with the aircraft, and we dove into the project. After getting the plane off it's gear we found that the right gear leg had had a heat indecent at some point and that the camber on the right wheel was off significantly. More importantly we found that the right front main gear attach tab had broken loose, probably in the same indecent.
It was evident that the AC had flown for some time with these issues, a testament to the strength of these planes. After some serious head scratching, CAD rendering, machining, elbow grease, and did I mention head scratching we had the attach tab and both axles perfect again (except for some ugly holed in the side of the fuselage and back seat). All that was left was to get the wheels on fill in the holes and we were mostly good to go.
Here is where the story gets... well just read.
Saturday July 9th (1130 am) my Dad was turning into the airport to work on the plane and was struck head on (60mph) by a 25 year old girl on prescription medication that had fallen asleep at the wheel. The details aren't important, but on a scale of 1-10 the accident was at least an 8.5. A medical helicopter (based on the field) airlifted him to one of the best trauma hospitals in the country where he spent two weeks in a coma. He has suffered a laundry list of injurys, a traumatic brain injury included, but he has been recovering exceptionally well. During his time in the ICU a mass was discovered in his brain that was later diagnosed as a stage 3 cancerous brain tumor. Next Wednesday will be the beginning of the cancer treatment starting with the resection of the tumor.
Personal issues aside, my problem is this: I need to get this plane back on it's gear and run the engine as it has not run in almost four months. The particulars of getting the Matco wheels to play nicely with the Cleveland axles was a ball that was definitely in my Dad's court. Some of the parts were lost or destroyed in the accident, and I think I have sourced and ordered most of the parts needed to finnish the project. But, with all that has been going on (three businesses one of them his and I'm an only child) I have not been able to devote the time to properly sort the problem out myself. If anyone has had a similar project I would very much like to talk with you, if for nothing else than to make sure I am on the right track. It just doesn't seem right that the spacers and castle nuts rest against the rubber grease seals of the bearing.
Thank you for letting me share my story. I want to mention that I do not think the builder was aware that he was selling us these issues, (at least the attach tab) and I am glad my Dad and I have had a chance to get to know this AC as well as we have.
thank you even more if you have some helpful insight.
I am available most weekdays, and evenings. I know that there are probably really easy ways to straighten this out, but I honestly just need some insight.
Call if you can
Thanks,
Steven R Franseen
(720)296-1548