Microlighters

I had a interesting conversation at the hanger tonight with a gentleman who built a KR2 but cannot taxi AT ALL cause the front wheel keeps on turning in a direction and wont budge even when he uses his breaks. Only way to turn the wheel is by lifting the nose and straightening the wheel but turns out again when he starts moving. I suspect he has too much weight on the nose.(178lbs on nose,344lbs left wheel and 341 right wheel. Any suggestions?

Final Empty Weight
3-13-2005.
Left Main Gear 284 lbs.
Nose Gear 214 lbs.
Right Main Gear 273 lbs.
Total empty weight
771 lbs.

Above from Mark Jones' KRII with nose wheel. Nose weight looks OK? Mains are a bit on the high side. I not much help, mine had a little wheel at the back....

What is weight with Pilot and fuel on nose gear? Does it increase significantly? Assume header tank vs wing tanks?

maybe try a bigger wheel or check the bearings on the nose gear? Does it rotate freely when there is no weight on it? How effective are the brakes?



Sounds ODD?

Maybe try Carlton (FLYKR) or
Steve Boshoff
Benoni, Gauteng
(083)5173639
before he is off to Oz. Steve Designed his own SB2 on KR2 wing with a nose wheel. he is also aeronautical engineer which helps...

Something is probably bent or worn out. Don't know this spesific setup but if a castering wheel keeps running sideways then something is bending under load or the pivot point is not 100% vertical. If there is any bushes I would inspect them too.

KFA wrote: or the pivot point is not 100% vertical. If there is any bushes I would inspect them too.

Correct.

Try to offset the pivot point a little more or use a smaller wheel.
By offsetting the pivot point more you "force" the wheel to turn. It will have no choice. The drawback is that there is then more load on it and more chance of bending out of vertical or the bushes going south.

Thanx for all the replies guys but it seems he found the fault. I will post the results tomorrow if he succeeds with testing in the morning.