Installing the wheels

TLDR

• Installed all three wheels

Detail

Nose wheel

I installed this last, but let me document it first since it was super easy process.

So the nose wheel was already installed in the engine mount. So to install the wheel I just took the entire engine mount assembly and attached it to the firewall.

4 holes, 4 AN5 bolts and that was it. This entire process took me 15 minutes.

I am genuinely surprised it only takes 4 bolts to mount the nose wheel (and engine). It seems there should be a lot of force generated by this area on the airplane. And I asked my friend Daniel who is very good at material, and he confirmed this is apparently how typically engine mounts are mounted. That’s some really amazing engineering!

Main wheel

Installing the wheel axle

This is the fun part! Based on my experience with landing gears, I had a feeling it won’t be easy. And of course the 4 holes attaching the wheel assembly to the landing gear did not line up on either port side or starboard side. To insert the bolts, I pushed them in as far as I could, and used a rubber hammer to lightly tap them to at least go through the hole by a few threads. Two of them was able to just go through fully with the hammer force. And the other two needed a nut to pull them from the other end. I threw away the nut after using it to pull the bolts through.

Another thing is, the instruction had a bug here. On the KAI it said “Step 1, connect part A to blah blah blah”, but the drawing did not have anything labeled part A. So I followed the drawing to attach the axle and other stuff, and only found out later that the part A is actually part of the brake assembly.

Instruction didn’t say what part A is

The yellow/brass thing is part A

So, basically, I had to first found a way to line up the holes to insert AN4 bolts, then took them apart, then put the brake base plate thing in, re-attach the AN4 bolts. It was definitely not a pleasant 2 hour of my time.

Installing the wheel and brake

Once the bolts are in, attaching the wheel was not hard. I greased the bearings and secured the lock nut with a cotter pin. The wheel was then locked in place.

I then attached the brake calipers. I didn’t torque to down though. I might have to take them down when I work on the brake lines.

And I also haven’t put the heat shield wrap yet. I didn’t see instructions about this, and I also didn’t receive any heat shield. My FWF kit is on the way, maybe the heat shield is in that kit? IDK.. I tried to pull the spat plate back. It’s pretty flexible. So I think when I’m ready to wrap the landing gear leg with some heat shield I will have access here.