"Rich S." wrote in message ...
"Corky Scott" wrote in message
...

I'm betting that if you were to somehow attach shocks to your
Emeraude, you'd notice a smoother ride across grassy strips. Don't
know if it's worth the weight/drag penalty though.

The Em has coil springs that are pretty stiff. Over the years I've repainted
the lower leg until there's only about 1½" of shiny leg left showing. Very
seldom does the spring compress enough to scratch the paint. The leg does
extend about 2" from the at-rest position when unloaded. There's about 4" of
overall travel in the strut. The ride on grass, instead of being bouncy,
resembles my yard tractor.

But I notice the lack of boingyness most on wheel landings. I can bounce a
Cessna 140 ten feet in the air without half trying; but the Emeraude? Uh-uh.
To tell the truth, I was really surprised. I figured like you that the
undampened springs would be bouncy. It may have something to do with the
rebound spring.

A friend, Col. Russ Russell in Florida, has an Emeraude with gas struts. His
gear has about 6-8" of travel and rides like a Caddy on the grass. But he
has had constant problems with leaking seals and has had to rebuild both of
them several times over the years. While they don't weigh much more than the
plans-built gear, he would swap just to avoid the maintenance.

Rich "Preparation 'H'" S.


The Aeronca Champ had spring oleos without any shock fluid or
whatever, and wasn't boingy. It had a somewhat leaky cylinder
arrangement, and I suppose the air flowing in and out probably damped
things a bit. It had a lot of travel and was too soft, making
crosswind operations hairy.
My Jodel was designed with spring oleos, but was modified to use
steel leaf gear. The leaf's OK, but added a horrendous amount of
weight. Someday when I have nothing better to do (yeah, right) I'll
make a set of oleos for it.
Dan