Mite Wheel Setup

[Larry]

After reading Ted Teach's write up on his Mite and the re-re building my attention was directed to his wheels. He was discussing the retracting and that he has them fixed now and they go all the way into the wells.
I thought that the ones on my previous Mite N4180 did go all the way into the wells and when I looked back at the pictures I noticed that N4180 had the landing gear arms on the opposite as my present Mite N4187 and also I see that Ted's are also on the same as N4187. I wonder what is correct. On N4180 the drum is on the outside and the wheel is removed to the inside. With the drum on the outside it seems like the routing of the brake cable would be making less of a sharp turn (the unmodified brakes on 4180 worked great) and therefore would let more pressure be applied to braking rather than using it up in the cable. And as I said, I think the wheels did go all the way into the well in that (backward?) configuration.
If anyone wants a picture of them on the opposite email me and I will send it.
Larry Minch (Larry544@Gmail.com

[Lew Moon]

Larry:
I sent you a couple of pictures of your old mite with the wheel setup. You will notice that the wheels mount from the inside, Fusulage side. The brake cable runs down the outboard side and seems to be a perty stright shot. With the wheel mounted from the out board or wing tip side, it would give a little wider track. I can't see any way the axel could be changed. I looked a several pictures people have given me of the airplane in flight and it looks like the wheel are tucked up into the wings perty good. This is something I will look at during the next annual. I am surprised there hasn't been more replys to this. Lew

[Glenn]

I'd like to see those photos. too. Ted's a pretty clever guy. If he could fiigure a way to tuck the gear up it's him. All the later Mite gears hang down 4 - 6" in the back. Mooney did this to reduce the weight on the nose wheel by lowering the aft trunnion mount on the drag spar and thus moving the main wheel forward. Problem. is that the gear doesn't swing squarely back into the wells. Makes it difficult to get gear doors to fit. I had given thought to to moving the trunnion mount to it's original position but I have a problem cutting holes in a perfectly good wood spar. I always hated the way the gear hung down. It's a real drag. But I don't think it would make any difference how the wheels are mounted. The geometry doesn't change. The wheel will still retract the same way and hang down. The only way to change the geomety is to adjust the trunnion. Look in your wheel well and you will see how the trunnion on the main spar is mounted near the top of the spar and the rear trunnion is mounted at the bottom of the drag spar and the landing gear will not stow squarely as originally designed.

[Lew Moon]

Dah. I was looking at my wheels and the fact that the tire mounts from the inboard side. It looks like if you moved the right wheel to the other side and exchanged it with the left they would mount in the opposite direction. Does any one have a report as to the benifits of this?
Lew

[Keith Mackey]

If the brake is on the outboard side of the trailing arm, the installation has been reversed and should be changed to prevent a much more unpleasant arrival if a gear up landing is made on grass as the trailing arm will tend to dig in or be badly damaged on concrete.

Since the toe in/out and castor/camber of the gear legs is not adjustable and may cause tire wear, reversing the tire on the wheel and then moving the wheel from one gear to the other helps even tire wear.

[Scott Royall]

I just noticed a brand new M20 on the ramp at the airport. The gear is mounted with the swing-arm on the outboard side. That means the wheel is removed toward the middle of the plane and the swing arm is the last thing going up into the wheel well and the Hub cap is the first thing going up into the wheel well. (I can't figure out why there is a hubcap.) Of course this doesn't have anything to do with our Mites but it is interesting. A point of interest is that the M20 I looked at has a 3 piece gear door. the inboard piece that covers the bottom of the wheel, the outboard piece that is hinged from the outboard side of the wheel(it is a lot like a Mite gear door) and a center piece that mounts directly to the swing-arm. the center piece is about 1/3 of the total door. So with a full (3 piece) gear door it is necessary to have the swing-arm on the outside. I wonder if the Mites with the gear mounted that way are ones that had gear doors installed at some point.