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Thread: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

  1. #1
    Senior Member t j's Avatar
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    Default Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    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.
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    Tom Jones
    Classic 4 builder

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

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

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

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

  4. #4
    Senior Member chefwarthog's Avatar
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    Default

    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

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    How often should you inspect the alignment?
    Paul Zimmermann
    LSRM-A
    Garland, Texas

  6. #6
    Senior Member t j's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    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.
    Last edited by t j; 11-11-2014 at 11:37 AM.
    Tom Jones
    Classic 4 builder

  7. #7
    Senior Member PapuaPilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    I want to add a few more tips on wheel alignment. You really want to do this before your first flight. I've heard some scary stories about planes that dart off the side.

    1. Wheel alignment changes with the airplane's weight. It is best to do the alignment at gross weight or at your average flying weight. If you fly by yourself 90% of the time then you might consider doing it with the plane loaded to simulate of you, full fuel plus the weight of any extra stuff you normally carry.

    2. The wheels need to go to their normal, relaxed position during alignment. To do this you can put grease plates under the wheels so they slide to that position. Use 4 sheets of aluminum (about 16" x 16" each), make 2 sets of sandwiches with grease in the middle of 2 sheets. Lay the greased sets on the floor and roll your main wheels on top of them. Now your main gear will go to its true position. Sometimes you need to jiggle the plane to get the gear to settle into this position.

    Going back to the first point. If you add the ballast to simulate your body weight while on the grease plates you will notice the gear will spread. The camber (the angle/tipping from top to bottom) has changed and the tow may have changed too.

    3. You don't need to draw a chalk line on the the tires. What if your tires aren't true on the hubs? There is a more accurate way. You really want to align the hubs, not the tire. Just like the picture of checking the camber you can check the tow similarly with a carpenters square. Place a straight beam or board on some blocks so that it spans and touches the front of both tires half way up. Now use the carpenter's square. Put one side of it on the beam outboard of your wheel. You want to see if your hubs are parallel to the square. Measure the distance from the square to the front and back of the hub half way up (don't measure to the sidewalls of the tire). If you want zero tow out then the distance needs to be the same. If you are setting some toe in then it will require some calculation or the use of a protractor.

    4. Set your alignment per the manufacture's recommendation. If they don't give you any data then set them to zero camber/zero tow at the weight you chose in step one. Kitfox sells angled shims for adjusting this. Put the shims between the gear leg and axle. If you can't get the tow right on then I would favor a little tow in.
    Last edited by PapuaPilot; 12-15-2014 at 09:30 PM.
    Phil Nelson
    A&P-IA, Maintenance Instructor
    KF 5 Outback, Cont. IO-240
    Flying since 2016

  8. #8
    Senior Member jiott's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    I don't understand why you would bother checking caster; there is nothing you can do to adjust it on the main gear. On a nosewheel or tailwheel it is important.

    Also I believe the line around the tire method as in the tutorial is just as accurate and maybe more so than your method. The tire line is put on (and I would use something like a ballpoint pen rather than a fat chalk line) by rotating the tire 360 degrees against a fixed marker pen, which gives you a true circle of rotation with respect to the AXLE. This is what you want rather than the hub rims which could themselves be out of true.
    Jim Ott
    Portland, OR
    Kitfox SS7 flying
    Rotax 912ULS

  9. #9
    Senior Member PapuaPilot's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    My bad in saying caster, I meant tow. I edited them all to say "tow".
    Phil Nelson
    A&P-IA, Maintenance Instructor
    KF 5 Outback, Cont. IO-240
    Flying since 2016

  10. #10
    kitfoxnick's Avatar
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    Default Re: Wheel alignment...a photo tutorial

    My alignment story. A friend bought a model 4 sight unseen and him not having a tailwheel endorsement asked if I would help him bring it home. After checking out the plane real good, everything looked good. I told my buddy somethings wrong with this plane because no one owns a plane for 4 years and only flys it 7 hrs. On take off as soon as I lifted the tailwheel off the ground I immediately knew why this guy didn't fly this plane much. It was everything I could do to keep it on the runway, and this was on takeoff. When I got to our destination I full stalled it on a piece of grass next to the runway. I instructed the new owner to not even bother taxing this plane until we could get it aligned. Well he let a mechanic friend take to give it a tune up. This guy is a competent tailwheel pilot with a lot of pitts time and he managed to run it off the runway at his destination airport. When he brought it back he ran it off the runway again and slow looped it in the grass. When I helped align it, using greese plates and line lasers we found it was 5deg towed out on the right side and 2 deg to in on the left side. Using shims we were able to get the Grove gear aligned correctly. The plane has no bad habits now, and the fellow was able to get his tailwheel endorsement, and fly happily ever after.

    All that said, this is the only Grove gear I have seen with an alignment issue. If your getting ready to do your first flight. It is certainly worth it to check the alignment first, and stack the deck in your favor.
    Nick W
    IV 1200
    912Ul
    Warp Taper Tip

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