Gerard, Et Al

 

Consider this:

 

1. When the nose gear leg is first installed, the bearings blocks are positioned between the engine mount plates and clamped so the gear is plumb and swings properly into the wheel well.

 

2. Two holes are then drilled thru each bearing block to ultimately secure them to the engine mount and pass thru the spacing tube (carefully cut to length to not make the bearing blocks so tight as to bind).

 

3. The bearing blocks should have been marked as to left/right, inside/outside and top/bottom.  Since each block is drilled in place, they are unique to each airplane and to their location/position on that airplane.  The two holes may be spaced equally apart but if the blocks are rotated, transposed or swapped, it is almost a guarantee that the leg will not be plumb or retract correctly.  There is only one way to be correct but at least five ways to be wrong - it isn't 50/50.

 

So, before the nose gear leg is removed for service make sure the blocks are marked so they can be replaced exactly back from whence they came and in the same orientation.

 

If your leg was taken off, it would have been possible that the blocks did not go back to the proper place.

 

This is the kind of problem that can occur when the builder is no longer servicing the airplane.