Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

[t j]

Tools needed:
Carpenter's level
Plumb bob
Carpenter's square
Tape measure
Chalk
Chalk line

Due to camber, wheels further apart at the top than the bottom, tail wheel airplanes need to be in the tail up attitude to check wheel alignment. After aligning my kitfox wheels to straight ahead with 1/4 inch of camber in the tail up attitued, it has about 1/4 inch toe in on each wheel with the tail down. This alignment took all the squirrelyness out of it and makes it a very nice and easy to handle airplane on the ground.

1. Jack up each wheel. Make a chalk line around the tire near the center of the tire tread by spinning the wheel and holding a piece of chalk on it. Make a cross mark on this line at both the front and rear of each tire at 1/2 the tire height.

2. Level the fuselage both ways.

3. Drop a plumb bob from the center of the tail spring and one from the center of the spinner. Mark these on the floor.

4. Snap a chalk line from these marks on the floor to mark the center line of the airplane.

5. Measure the distance from the front and rear chalk marks on each tire to a carpenter square held on the center line. Grooved tires make this easy. if you have smooth tires you'll need a helper to hold the tape. Use these measurements to determine amount of toe in or out of each wheel.

6. Measure from the square held against the outside of the tire to the top and bottom of the wheel rim. Use these measurements to determine amount of camber.

On my kitfox the right wheel was parallel to the center line and had 1/4 inch of camber. The left wheel had about 3/4 inch toe in and 3/8 inch of camber. I took the axel out and bent it cold in a vise with a sledge hammer. It took several trial and errors to get it the same as the right wheel.


Some people have chained the tail down and used a six foot cheater to bend the gear in place on the airplane. I tried that but stopped when it seemed I was going to damage something and nothing had bent yet.

[HansLab]

Very clear story here! Tx for the photographs - they will help when i'm this far.

[oldfox]

Thanks Tom this is a big help and picture are great !!! thanks again Chris

[chefwarthog]

Thanks to have taken the time to make pictures like those, thise few minutes you take will save hours to those who will see this tutorial



I Just throw an idea, why not do a Sub Discussion, in the Features : Tutorial (Photo or Video) so it could be easyer to search for instruction how to do a specific job on our plane

[Paul Z]

How often should you inspect the alignment?

[t j]

Probably just once. I think you would have to hit something pretty hard to knock it out of alignment.

Wheel alignment issues seem to be just a tube gear problem due to weld warp or something. The grove gear uses tapered shims to align so is easy to set correctly during construction.