First of all, "Why temporarily install the landing gear? The reason for temporarily installing the landing gear is to give you ease of mobility with the fuselage by being able to move it around easily while working on the mechanical and electrical system of the fuselage. Remember, you still have to cover your plane with dacron material and will need to remove the landing gear prior to the covering process. We will be presenting the "PERMANENT" landing gear installation in another web page following the covering section to finalize the remaining permanent installation not covered here.
To start, you will need to place the fuselage up onto something like sawhorses to get the fuselage higher than the landing gear you are installing. Next, place both fiberglass legs into the landing gear weldments on the fuselage. Measure from the weldment base to the center mid-cuff hole on the leg. This measurement should be exactly 12 inches from the weldment to the center cuff hole. If the measurement is larger, remove the gear leg and check inside the weldment for any debris or welding slag. If any is found, you will need to remove this obstruction before continuing.
Once you have a good fit of the gear legs on both sides of the fuselage, connect the two cross cables using two #2 screwdrivers to suspend the cables. This is temporary until you have a proper alignment of the legs for drilling. Check to make sure both cables are equally loose as they will sag a little with no weight on the gear legs. This is easily done by just aligning the screwdriver in the mid-cuff to be perfectly parallel with the longerons. Once you have an equal distance, should have the same amount of sag in each cable, your gear legs are now aligned and ready to drill a 1/4" hole through the weldment leg holder and the fiberglass leg. Be sure not to move the gear leg during this process. (See photo with drill hanging below)
Now that you have one gear leg drilled, place the 1/4" mounting bolt with a single washer through the hole. Place another washer on the other side. As this will be a temporary connection, put the nyloc nut aside and use a standard 1/4"x20 hardware nut on the bolt, but only snug tighten it. (See photo with drill hanging below) You will use the nyloc nut when you permanently mount the gear legs later.
The next step is to align the axle for a 1 degree "toe in" before drilling for the securing bolt.
Before we start, here is a second way to align the main gear for the 1 degree toe-in. Jim Lartin-Drake shows you how.
The drag cables between the landing gear will also be temporarily installed as these too will have to be removed before covering. Again, place the 1/4" mounting bolt with a single washer through the drag cable eye and mid-cuff hole. Place the other drag cable on the other side with another washer. As this will be a temporary connection, put the nyloc nut aside and use a standard 1/4"x20 hardware nut on the bolt, but only snug tighten it. You will use the nyloc nut when you permanently mount the gear legs later upon final installation.
NOTE: Do not worry about filling the brake master cylinder or brake lines with the brake fluid. This will be covered "in the final brake line installation later in the build during the permanent landing gear installation".
Just a heads up: When you get to this point, you will need a pair of "Snap Ring Pliers" to remove the master cylinder for filling and bleading.
