On Aug 8, 8:42 am, Andy wrote:
I noted in John's USA team Blog that he lowers the gear before
rigging. I know other pilots do this too. I have to ask why.

For modern glass gliders and Cobra trailers ...

Reasons for leaving the gear up until the wings are on:

1. If gear is down and a hydraulic trailer jack bleeds down the
fuselage may fall over and be damaged.

2. If gear is down the fuselage is about 6 inches higher so the crew
has to lift the wing tips 6 inches higher to rig.

3. If solo rigging there is more freedom to adjust the fuselage height
to insert the main pins.

Reasons for putting the gear down:

None that I know of - please enlighten me.

Andy

Hi Andy,

I put my gear down when I rig my glider, although it is not in a Cobra
and my wingtips are very low anyways since the SZD-59 has VERY little
dihedral. I put my gear down and lower the fuse until the wheel is
just touching. This helps to stabilize my rickety ramp the fuselage
dolly is resting on. If I don't put down the wheel and lower the fuse
until it is creating a little lateral friction, the fuse wants to
rotate that much more when I am putting in the first wing, and my ship
has the rashes to prove it (previous owner...), so there's one reason.

-Paul

BTW, the difference in ramp hight whether the wheel is up or down is
only a few inches in my case, but again my trailer is a far cry from a
Cobra...(improvements are of course in the works)