Landing gear chromed?

[gizmos]

Has anyone chromed their landing gear? I have polishing mine for 7 hours, looks ok but not 100%4118

[Dorsal]

Wow, looks pretty sharp to me.

[Mnflyer]

Yes aluminum can be chromed but you may want to do some reseach on chrome plating of aluminum it is not recomended on auto wheels and is illeagal in Germany do to reduce strenght and corrision problems, the landing gear is critical so I'd just polish.

[gizmos]

Thanks for info, I am in USA ,but corrosion was something I didn't think about. I don't think it would weaken the gear but I may just keep polishing .

[jwlt500]

Check with someone who polishes aluminum on semi trucks. They use a buffer wheel and jewlers rouge. It will shine like a mirror. Another product that works well is Zepher Z-40 it should be available where they sell semi truck parts.

[jamesmil]

i use a polish called "purple metal polish" made by california custom products. it is the best aluminum polish i have ever used. you can order it on line.:)

[DesertFox6]

I was present during DesertFox4's airworthiness inspection some years back and I recall a very complimentary inspector staring at DF4's highly polished aluminum gear struts as if he'd just seen the ghost of Christmas bills past.

He quietly mentioned that he was going to have to stop the inspection at that point unless DF4 could produce some FAA approval for chromed surfaces on a major structural component since the chroming process would weaken the metal, thus negating the built-in safety factor of the original manufacturer.

Needless to say, DF4 immediately stuffed a tube of honest-to-goodness, German FLITZ metal polish up the nice man's left nostril. One whiff of that and a quick demo on the lesser-gleamingly-polished surface under the fuselage convinced the nice man to continue the highly successful inspection. (WHEW!)

Bottom line: Elbow grease beats a new set of $trut$ every time! ;)

"E.T."
PS: Buffed struts make for buff arms anyway! :D

[MotReklaw]

I polished an entire Zenith 701 one time. Never again, the nastiest job ever. I did polish my KF gear about a year ago and they still shine. Still building. I plan on redoing them once a year.

Warning! Not a Kitfox:

First Plane I built: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-5GYLFbSSQ

Second Plane. Polished: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peVlnBTTcss&list=UUpL0STFgmNTf0-a2zdJBfCw&index=8

[rogerh12]

What about acid etching and just giving it a good soak in alodine?
Makes it a pretty gold too.....

[Lion8]

Just a suggestion. If you Chrome the Aluminum landing gear, is that considered a Modification putting you into the test pilot category? Chrome plating steel requires an 'acid' process which may cause embrittlement. Don't know about aluminum. I would just polish it. No mod there. Besides, Chrome will not flex at the same rate as aluminum. Just some food for thought. What do you think John 'P'? -Tom

[jrevens]

Chrome plating the gear is definitely not a good thing to do. You'll greatly increase the possibility of crack forming and propagation. Chrome plated aluminum spinners got a real bad reputation among many pilots for this very same reason. Chrome is very hard and brittle.