johneeb wrote:George,
Do you know where the name Oleo stems from?
John isn't that what the flying monkeys of the wicked witch of the west sang in the Wizard of Oz? Or was it the munchkin guards in the Oz castle? Oleo Oh Oh Oh, Oleo Oh Oh Oh, or something like that.
CAUTION - My forum posts may be worth what you paid for them!
Bruce Fenstermacher, Past President, TIC170A
Email: brucefenster at gmail.com
johneeb wrote:George,
Do you know where the name Oleo stems from?
Like a lot of aviation terms, it's French. The prefix "oleo-" is French for "oil-", from the Latin oleum. http://www.m-w.com
John
John Renwick
Minneapolis, MN
Former owner, '55 C-170B, N4401B
'42 J-3 Cub, N62088
'50 Swift GC-1B, N2431B, Oshkosh 2009 Outstanding Swift Award, 2016 Best Continuously Maintained Swift
[The Aeronca's don't have oil in them. They're not "oleo" struts. They merely have sliding bushings within a steel tube, supported by coil springs, and are greased.
Oleo-struts are nitrogen (or dry air) charged, oil-filled, sealed spring struts. (Nitrogen is preferred because it is inexpensive and will not support oxidation.) They are essentially hydraulic shock-absorbers with a pre-charge of nitrogen, the gas being compressible and therefore the strut is able to telescope/absorb landing and taxi forces. The oil lubricates the mechanism and prevents excessive leakage of the gas.[/quote]
OK on the Nitrogen interpretation George but as I recall there is an oil fill port on the bottom of the Aeronca gear and the proceedure is to disconnect it from the axle tube, swing it upwards and fill with oil. Because of the difficulty of servicing most don't get the attention they deserve. So I guess it's an "air over oil" system. It sure works well though.
That's a nice link. My previous reply was based upon my original Aeronca Club Service Manual instructions that I had when my 11 AC Aeronca Chief underwent landing gear overhaul. It made no mention of oil filling and none was installed. It worked fine, even if it was wrong.
Last edited by GAHorn on Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
That's OK and fair too! I was relying on memory when I posted it, and apparently my info and/or memory was just bad! (It was 1980 when I had the 11AC.)
I remember completely rebuilding the landing gear, and the lower units had no oil in them at all. I don't remember the packing. They were just greased and that's what the club info at the time described also. They worked just fine anyway.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
I didn't mean it as anyone was wrong or right. Just as a friendly reminder for anyone to do more research before relying on anything said on airplane forums. It is very easy to forget or relay what "I did when I fixed it" type situations.
No harm, no foul. I took it as excellent advice (and a nice link for Aeronca owners.) I didn't intend my comments on Aeronca gear to be relied upon for actual maintenance, ... I don't consider my memory to be that up-to-date on them. (Probably never was.)
I was actually only attempting to describe an "oleo" strut principle and unfortunately relied upon a foggy memory of a long ago project (that even back then was apparently based upon defective information.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
I did a little checking and there isn't any one making kits for Aeronca replicas. But, Wag Aero bought everything from Safe-Air so it could be done if Wag decides there is a market. There is also a rumor that Univair is making fuselages. SO, if these rumors are true one could easily build one from parts.
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