Nosewheel standard part or Unique?

[SWeidemann]

I tried to order a (softer) rubber bumper from Kitfoxaircraft but was told it is not a standard part of the kit. I have a (already built) Vixen Model 5, with (hard rubber) bumper that looks like a good idea to stop excessive upward swing of the nosewheel strut.

Does anyone else have this part on their trigear?

Skot

9172F083-E709-45DD-BFB1-89DCCF53D33D.jpg

[Dave S]

Skot,

The blue bracket with the bumper is not part of kit. I suspect someone previously fabricated it for some reason a person can only guess at which makes no sense at all.

[SWeidemann]

Skot,

The blue bracket with the bumper is not part of kit. I suspect someone previously fabricated it for some reason a person can only guess at which makes no sense at all.

When I attempted to order a replacement (from Kitfox, by providing a picture and description) for what I view as a “rubber bumper” or a “gear strut restraint”, I was told it was not a part that was included in the kit, and therefore unavailable. I conclude it is a custom part fabricated (by someone…possibly the original builder) to solve an issue with this particular aircraft (and possibly others). Logic tells me this rubber bumper would prevent a total collapse of the nose-gear strut in the event of a shock strut failure (or in my case, a broken bottom center engine mount bolt). If there are nose strut failures in the fleet, I am not aware of them, so my non-standard part is possibly one of a kind. I am hopeful others will have some comments.