1.  There are tapered shims available - Ck the wheel/axle manufacturer or someone like aircraft spruce.  Toe out is an unstable condition.

 

2.  If these are the original Matco wheels, note that the pin bearing races are aligned conically.  Thus, one needs to make sure the axle nut (with washer on the inside shoulder and under the nut) is snugged tight enough to keep the bearings properly supporting the wheel.  Loose wheels will destroy the bearings (nose wheel included).  The usual rule is that they are properly tight if the wheel will not make a complete revolution when hand spun whilst on jacks.  Remember to make sure the bearings are packed with appropriate grease.

 

3. The brake pad float bushings should allow the pad mounts to move freely (SS not rusty steel) and properly positioned so that relaxing brake pedal pressure causes no pressure on the pad to the rotor.

 

4. Remember that when steering - one toe presses (or just taps) the inside-the-turn pedal whilst the other foot holds the rudder pedal steady so that you are not slamming the rudder over.

 

Good Luck

 

Grayhawk 

 

This morning I checked the alignment of the MLG wheels and they weren't off by too much: 0.2º toe-out on the right wheel and 0.6º toe out on the left wheel. That's probably not enough to worry about but I may try and correct it if I can find an easy way.

I did discover the real problem, though. When I put the plane up on jacks and spun the wheels, the left main and nose both spun about 1-1/4 turns. The right main would hardly turn at all. The axle nut on the right wheel was one flat too tight. The wheel was dragging and my brand new tire had several flat spots on it. When I loosened the axle nut, the wheel turned freely so it wasn't the brakes per se. I DO need to inspect the brakes on that side as well because things got pretty hot over there.

I'm just glad it's not the oleo strut!

Do we have an end-play specification for tightening the axle nuts?

Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody --