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Brent,
Your strut concerns have been addressed by many.
In particular the pneumatic strut will barely fit physically in your
existing nose gear tunnel. Additionally, it will not allow the nose
gear door to fully close without modification. Many are flying this way
and have a blister on the nose gear door. To my knowledge the physical
dimensions of all the 320/360 pneumatic struts were the same (but longer than
the dog leg).
Regarding the strut on ebay, I am guessing by looking
at the rest of the aircraft, that it is earlier than my circa 1996 strut.
This will probably assure you that the centering feature has not been
incorporated in this strut. I remember first hearing about the self
centering hardware somewhere around 1999 (?). However, this is not an issue in
my opinion. The centering feature is (as mentioned) an $850 upgrade from
Lancair. I was never convinced that it was necessary. My nose gear
door gets a scratch or two each year as the occasionally not centered gear
retracts. I've rebuilt my nose gear door for other reasons more times than
I can count and find a couple scratches not important. You could certainly
upgrade it from Lancair if you wanted.
Gross weight/ CG concerns regarding your 360 are
very real and should not be overlooked. In particular if you built, per
the plans, fuel bays forward of the spar, you will have significant forward CG
issues.
Larry Henney
L360
850 hrs
I am asking for information concerning the
pnuematic oleo nose strut for a Lancair 235. I have been looking for
a strut to convert my 235 from the stiff dog leg style to the pneumatic
one. I am confused as to which ones are the correct one. I
understand some have poor centering capability(early model) and some are from
various manufacturers. I am sure some of you have seen the one for sale on
Ebay. Is the one of the good ones or one to stay away from. I have
the same question about the front nose fork also. I intend to run an IO360
with c/prop if this has any bearing as to the weight. If any one has any
information about this please let me know. I would like to obtain the
right one the first time. Thanks! Brent
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