Yes, the gear design was excellent and basically trouble-free. Many BD-5s
are considerably overweight, yet I've heard no complaints about the L.G.
Machined parts were provided in (some of) the kits, with the builder having
to trim the fiberglas struts and drill the holes in everything. The plans
set provided dimensioned drawings of all of the parts except for a few cast
pulleys. The set in my BD-5 has withstood several firm landings without
distress or need to adjust the retract cables. Incidentally, the
retract/extend time is about one or two seconds!

Jeff


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...

was the undercarriage design for the BD5 a competent design?

I know all about the deficiencies in the 5 (I even still got the info
pack :-) ) but in all the kerfuffel I've never heard a single bad word
about Jim's undercarriage design.

The design buzzing around in my head at the moment would work quite
well with something similar. was there a drawing of the design or was
it one of the prebuilt parts? I wouldnt mind a copy of that part of
the plans if anyone has a copy.

[ I know that the BD5 design was stuffed for lack of a motor.
the jabiru 2200 weighs the same as a two stroke two cylinder rotax
and is only 22 1/2 inches wide. sticks out about 80hp continuous.
one wonders....]

Stealth Pilot
Australia