Ferrell Velocity N44VF

Lebanon-Warren
County Airport (I68)
Cincinnati, OH





This site is not part of the Velocity Aircraft company, nor is it affiliated with the factory in any way (other than I built one of their kits). Nothing here is endorsed by Velocity, nor represents their thoughts or opinions. They might agree, but so might my crazy uncle Eddie, so there you go. ;-)
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Wheel & Axle Construction

 

Date:   10 June 2002 - 16 June 2002

Chapter:   16.0  Wheels & Axles

Section:    Landing Gear

 

Section 16.1    Wheels & Axles

13 October, 2002     -  Chapter 16.1.1 - "Brake Lines & Cuffs"                                                    

The brake lines have been run down the gear legs inside of drinking straws, which are used as conduits in case we need to replace them later.  The straws were then bonded down with micro and BID.

Brake Line in Straw, BID into Place

August, 2004     -  Chapter 16.1.2 - "Install Main Gear Axles"                                          

The main gear axle bolt holes were pre-drilled by the factory.  However, we had to drill the backing plate, shown below, to which we will later mount the wheel pants.  Also, we're mounting an optional phenolic pad between the axle and the gear leg to prevent excess brake heat from sinking into the gear leg and warping it.

Backing Plate

Next we set the axle toe angle with washers under the axle, and then the camber.    We want 10 degrees of down angle, and 1" of kick in at the nose of the plane.  We then build up a flox pad around the washers to hold this angle.

Setting the axle angle

Building the Axle Pad

Finished axle pad

Next we would install the brakes.  At this point (after having test-fit the Matco brakes), we decided to order the Cleveland brake upgrade from the Velocity.  This was primarily driven by the fact that the factory now apparently supplies these brakes as standard equipment, and the fact that I've never heard a complaint about the Clevelands.  After talking to several Velocity pilots, I think that the Matcos would have been fine, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Dry-fitted Matco Brake

Cleveland Wheel and Brake Kit

We will finish installing the Cleveland brakes as soon as I can borrow a bead breaker to remove our tires from the Matco wheels.....  Now I've mounted the tires onto the Cleveland wheels and started the conversion.  The hardest part of the conversion was drilling two additional holes into the Cleveland mount.  I know that doesn't sound too hard, but not being a machinist, trying to locate two holes from the Matco axle onto the mounting plate and get them drilled accurately was a pain.  Also, since the Cleveland disk is part of the wheel, you have to disassemble the caliper to get the wheel on, which struck me as odd.  Finally, the Cleveland interfered with my gear legs in an entirely different way than did the Matco, so I had to a lot of grinding under the brake to mount it.  I probably should have just cut the leg, but I had a mental block on that....

Cleveland Mounting Plate on Axle

Cleveland Brake Mounted

Section 16.2    Nose Wheel Installation

July, 2002     -  Chapter 16.2 - "Nose Wheel Installation"                                               

Our nose gear came installed and assembled as part of our fast-build kit.  However, we will need to set the tire pressure and the nylock nut on the bottom of the fork that sets the anti-shimmy pressure on the Belleville washers.

~  End of Chapter ~ End of Section   ~

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