Bent Onex main gear

[flyingbear]

Both sides are toe out....the L is more severe than the R. I will try to post pictures if I can figure out how.
I instructed in a Tomahawk years ago and we had students land so hard that the tires made black marks on the bottom of the wings (never with me in the plane). That gear was never deformed. I find it interesting that Sonex often claims hard landings to be the cause of their bent gear. If that is the case the gear is improperly made (tempered.
ONEX 0131

[WesRagle]

Hi Glen,

I use https://postimages.org/ to host pics I post. You have to set up an account and learn how to link to the pics but once learned it's easy to post. Like other hosting service the photos will probably go away someday but, oh well.

I think you have my email address. If you send me the pics I'll post them for you.

Wes

[flyingbear]

Thanks Wes..... I sent a couple of pics to you.

[flyingbear]

I must add that I am a 8000+ hour pilot in over 60 different aircraft, about 4000 hours in tail draggers. All that to say...... I did NOT land my ONEX hard, not even once.
glenb

[WesRagle]

Posted for Glen:

[flyingbear]

I think the constant toe out may have gradually bent the bottom part of the gear over the 50 hours of flight ( about 70 landings). The gear should not have actually bent however so it may just be the toe out rolling. When the gear is off the ground it looks pretty normal I think.
I did not notice it with the wheel pants on but when I pull the plane forward 10 feet the gear moves OUTWARD 3 inches- when pushed backwards it goes IN 3 inches. I will send this infor and pictures to Sonex and see what they say.

[Scott Todd]

Isn't that camber? Toe in or out is different than those photos.

[pfhoeycfi]

I had a sonerai (similar gear) many years ago and the toe in - out was best adjusted by shimming or machining the axles. I had mine machined. Re the "camber" mentioned I had a tail spring break on landing once resulting in a mild ground loop but it splayed the gear out like I'm seeing in the pic...only worse. I got a ride home and grabbed my "come along" and a tailspring. We pulled the wheels together with the come along....it took a few iterations but we got the gear pulled back to where it was suppose to be, removed the come along and I was able fly it home.

[flyingbear]

Yes, it IS camber plus Toe Out. The camber shows up best in the photo but rolling the aircraft forward results in widening of the gear by 3 inches every 10 feet (toe out).

[Onex107]

Yes, that's more camber than toe out. And in the pictures the long leg of the gear appears to be curved or bent outward like it was caused by a hard landing. In my case it was toe out, measured from above the wheel and only on one side.