Tilted Nose Gear/Nose Wheel

[asw20c]

I was starting the process of fitting the wheel pants to my nose gear this past weekend, and after unloading the nose gear/wheel per the plans and leveling the fuselage, I discovered a noticeable list, or tilt to the port side of the nose gear/nose wheel. I can't tell if the source of the list is a cumulative stacking of tolerances between the attach point on the engine mount/firewall down to the axle, or if it is coming from a single location. Regardless, I sent an email with photos to Vans asking whether this was something about which I needed to be concerned. I'm thinking a list of this magnitude (best I can measure is somewhere between 1 and 2 degrees depending on where and how you measure) will require riding the right brake to taxi in a straight line, will cause uneven wear on the tire, and may make takeoffs and landings unstable. I got an almost flippant email back from Vans saying that the nose gear has a 1 degree plus or minus tolerance on its bends, and perhaps that was what I was seeing, and based on the photos I sent that it "looks ok".
I was disappointed in that response. There were no clarifying answers to my questions on how the tilt might affect ground handling, no questions from them about my installation or measurements I have taken, essentially nothing that makes me feel any better about this situation. It was as if they were not taking my questions seriously. I hate saying that about the technical support, because in the past it has been much better. I'm seriously concerned that I have a defective nose gear.
For those more knowledgeable about nose gear aircraft (all my experience is in taildraggers), do I have a problem or not? See photos at the link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pdHdnusNyXWcbW9p7

 

[HAL Pilot]

Hard to tell but are these two distances equal? If not is there play ?

 

[asw20c]

View attachment 58227
Hard to tell but are these two distances equal? If not is there play ?

Those are belleville washers, and no, that's not the source of the list. Thanks for looking that hard at the photos though. The photos with the plumb bob behind the tire with the gear visible makes it look like it is the fork that is holding the axle at an angle, but the photo of the hinge on the engine mount looks tilted too. That's why I am having a difficult time determining the source of the tilt. Still, it is apparent there is one and Van's seems to have gone radio silent on my queries regarding whether this is a real issue or not. I don't consider their email saying "it looks ok" meeting the level of rigor I'm looking for.

 

[PaulvS]

I would take the nose wheel fork off and put it on the bench to measure carefully whether the bushings for the gear leg are perpendicular to the axle bolt. There's a bit of disassembly involved, which is a pain, but it shouldn't take long. If the fork proves to be square then that would isolate the problem to the top of the gear leg.

 

[asw20c]

I was starting the process of fitting the wheel pants to my nose gear this past weekend, and after unloading the nose gear/wheel per the plans and leveling the fuselage, I discovered a noticeable list, or tilt to the port side of the nose gear/nose wheel. I can't tell if the source of the list is a cumulative stacking of tolerances between the attach point on the engine mount/firewall down to the axle, or if it is coming from a single location. Regardless, I sent an email with photos to Vans asking whether this was something about which I needed to be concerned. I'm thinking a list of this magnitude (best I can measure is somewhere between 1 and 2 degrees depending on where and how you measure) will require riding the right brake to taxi in a straight line, will cause uneven wear on the tire, and may make takeoffs and landings unstable. I got an almost flippant email back from Vans saying that the nose gear has a 1 degree plus or minus tolerance on its bends, and perhaps that was what I was seeing, and based on the photos I sent that it "looks ok".
I was disappointed in that response. There were no clarifying answers to my questions on how the tilt might affect ground handling, no questions from them about my installation or measurements I have taken, essentially nothing that makes me feel any better about this situation. It was as if they were not taking my questions seriously. I hate saying that about the technical support, because in the past it has been much better. I'm seriously concerned that I have a defective nose gear.
For those more knowledgeable about nose gear aircraft (all my experience is in taildraggers), do I have a problem or not? See photos at the link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pdHdnusNyXWcbW9p7

Update- After sending more photos and several emails, Vans responded by saying that in light of the additional photos that in fact I do have a problem and that they will be sending me a new nose gear. I will post another update once the new gear arrives and I have it installed.

 

[Bearman]

Update- After sending more photos and several emails, Vans responded by saying that in light of the additional photos that in fact I do have a problem and that they will be sending me a new nose gear. I will post another update once the new gear arrives and I have it installed.

My RV10 is also out slightly. I can shoot a laser from back to front on the center line of the bottom of the fuselage and down the gear leg and it is out by about 3/16" from top to bottom. It looks like it was probably from the welding of the braces at the top. I'm not concerned.

 

[Bearman]

Update- After sending more photos and several emails, Vans responded by saying that in light of the additional photos that in fact I do have a problem and that they will be sending me a new nose gear. I will post another update once the new gear arrives and I have it installed.

I guess I should contact them about mine. I wasn't really concerned about it. You should be able to square the upper bolt hole mount with the gear leg and see if it is 90 degrees to the leg before you install it. It looked like my list was caused from the heat from welding the braces at the top.

 

[asw20c]

I guess I should contact them about mine. I wasn't really concerned about it. You should be able to square the upper bolt hole mount with the gear leg and see if it is 90 degrees to the leg before you install it. It looked like my list was caused from the heat from welding the braces at the top.

According to Vans, they said the bends in the nose gear have a plus or minus 1 degree tolerance. I'm not exactly sure what that means; whether the "bend" is within the plane of the nosegear, or whether that includes the 90 degree angle at the hinge on the firewall. Regardless, it was obvious mine was tilted far enough that the tire was going to wear unevenly, but my bigger concern was having to ride the right brake to taxi in a straight line, and whether the plane was going to have a tendency to turn left on takeoff and landing. That would have added to p-factor.

 

[Mudfly]

I had the exact same thing. I noticed it visually when working the nose-wheel pant. I used the same procedures you posted to verify. I determined mine was tilted about 1.5 degrees. I also used one of those spinning lasers. I set the laser on the floor between the main gear along the center line of fuselage bottom. You can align the laser using a few rivets along the bottom of the plane..from the tail to the nose. The laser will also run right down the center line of the nose gear assembly and onto the tire. On mine, the laser hit center tread on on the right side at the top and moved to the left side of the tread at the bottom. So it was tilted about the width of the center tread from top to bottom. Another quick check I did was to measure the nose wheel axle from center of bolt to floor on each side. Mine showed a 7/32" difference from one side to the other. My guess was the lower part of the landing gear tube was not properly aligned when it was welded to the beefier upper part of the assembly. I also called Vans and sent pictures. They looked for a limit, but weren't able to find it. They said mine should be within the tolerance and would be fine. I didn't really like it, but moved on.
I will try and find the pics I took and post them.

 

[asw20c]

I had the exact same thing. I noticed it visually when working the nose-wheel pant. I used the same procedures you posted to verify. I determined mine was tilted about 1.5 degrees. I also used one of those spinning lasers. I set the laser on the floor between the main gear along the center line of fuselage bottom. You can align the laser using a few rivets along the bottom of the plane..from the tail to the nose. The laser will also run right down the center line of the nose gear assembly and onto the tire. On mine, the laser hit center tread on on the right side at the top and moved to the left side of the tread at the bottom. So it was tilted about the width of the center tread from top to bottom. Another quick check I did was to measure the nose wheel axle from center of bolt to floor on each side. Mine showed a 7/32" difference from one side to the other. My guess was the lower part of the landing gear tube was not properly aligned when it was welded to the beefier upper part of the assembly. I also called Vans and sent pictures. They looked for a limit, but weren't able to find it. They said mine should be within the tolerance and would be fine. I didn't really like it, but moved on.
I will try and find the pics I took and post them.

I also measured the nose wheel axle like you did and mine was about 3/16" difference from one side to the other, so it sounds like yours is similar to mine. I don't understand what you meant when you said Vans looked for a limit but didn't find it.

 

[asw20c]

I was starting the process of fitting the wheel pants to my nose gear this past weekend, and after unloading the nose gear/wheel per the plans and leveling the fuselage, I discovered a noticeable list, or tilt to the port side of the nose gear/nose wheel. I can't tell if the source of the list is a cumulative stacking of tolerances between the attach point on the engine mount/firewall down to the axle, or if it is coming from a single location. Regardless, I sent an email with photos to Vans asking whether this was something about which I needed to be concerned. I'm thinking a list of this magnitude (best I can measure is somewhere between 1 and 2 degrees depending on where and how you measure) will require riding the right brake to taxi in a straight line, will cause uneven wear on the tire, and may make takeoffs and landings unstable. I got an almost flippant email back from Vans saying that the nose gear has a 1 degree plus or minus tolerance on its bends, and perhaps that was what I was seeing, and based on the photos I sent that it "looks ok".
I was disappointed in that response. There were no clarifying answers to my questions on how the tilt might affect ground handling, no questions from them about my installation or measurements I have taken, essentially nothing that makes me feel any better about this situation. It was as if they were not taking my questions seriously. I hate saying that about the technical support, because in the past it has been much better. I'm seriously concerned that I have a defective nose gear.
For those more knowledgeable about nose gear aircraft (all my experience is in taildraggers), do I have a problem or not? See photos at the link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pdHdnusNyXWcbW9p7

Update: Vans sent me a replacement nose gear this past week which I installed this afternoon, and thankfully that solved the problem. It turns out that one set of "ears" at the top of the gear that forms one of the two hinges around the two AN6 bolts that attach to the bottom of the engine mount was clocked differently than its mate which caused the entire gear to attach to the engine mount at an angle. The old gear held the nose wheel/fork at an angle approaching 2 degrees, but now with the new gear it appears to be no more than about 0.2 or 0.3 degrees. Problem solved.

 

[sigristu]

Just stumbled on this on. I had (have) the same issue and vans told me that
"they have determined the angle formed between your laser line and the center of the nose gear leg is 0.844 of 1.0 degree. Therefore, it is within manufacturing allowances."
So no replacement for me. I do not like it but I built on. It gave me some trouble fitting the wheel fairing.

 

[graywoodworking]

I had the exact same thing. I noticed it visually when working the nose-wheel pant. I used the same procedures you posted to verify. I determined mine was tilted about 1.5 degrees. I also used one of those spinning lasers. I set the laser on the floor between the main gear along the center line of fuselage bottom. You can align the laser using a few rivets along the bottom of the plane..from the tail to the nose. The laser will also run right down the center line of the nose gear assembly and onto the tire. On mine, the laser hit center tread on on the right side at the top and moved to the left side of the tread at the bottom. So it was tilted about the width of the center tread from top to bottom. Another quick check I did was to measure the nose wheel axle from center of bolt to floor on each side. Mine showed a 7/32" difference from one side to the other. My guess was the lower part of the landing gear tube was not properly aligned when it was welded to the beefier upper part of the assembly. I also called Vans and sent pictures. They looked for a limit, but weren't able to find it. They said mine should be within the tolerance and would be fine. I didn't really like it, but moved on.
I will try and find the pics I took and post them.

My -14A nose gear was out by a similar amount. I contacted Vans and received a similar response in that the part was within tolerance and I should not be concerned. The plane has been flying for almost two years now. I have not noticed any unusual tire wear. The airplane tracks very well.