Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: Gdascomb(at)aol.com
To those of you who have built a spreader bar-type gear, how wide didyou make the gap at the bottom of the side vees? The axle is 1.5" butyou gotta leave some room for shock cords. Also, has anyone put in sometype of protection for the wood to keep the axle from pounding againstit, maybe hardwood shims or something?Some time back I posted a question regarding a problem I had aligningthe side braces of a straight axle gear. Only one person responded whoknew what I was talking about, and he suggested that I run four stringsfrom the ash block to the fuselage sides and align the strings. Thatworked like a charm, but I do not remember who it was. Please speak up,whoever you are.ThanksGene________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Hi Gene,I was the one who suggested running the strings to figure out the gearalignment. As for the gap in the V's, I made mine right at 1.5" at thebottom. Of course, the gap gets wider as you go up, due to the angle of theV struts. The axle rides nicely in the groove, and the bungees clear itbecause they run over the axle in the longitudinal direction and under the Vfitings in the transverse direction, so they don't interact with the Vgroove at all. Does that make sense? I also used the aligning pinarrangement that Mike Cuy invented to counteract the braking torque and keepthe axle centered.I am planning to put a small pad of hard rubber under the axle on top of theV blocks to absorb some of the pounding from the axle. Haven't done it yet,though.Don't worry about not remembering who gave you the advice - I still haven'tgotten around to sending you some money for the axle washers you sent me.I'll get to it some day, hopefully soon.Jack Phillips -----Original Message-----