The International Cessna^® 170 Association

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.

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

jrenwick wrote:

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, m-w.com is a great link, now I have no excuse for my spelling.

johneeb wrote: John, m-w.com is a great link, now I have no excuse for my spelling.

I've become such an internet lazybutt -- I hardly ever pick up a dictionary any more!

John

[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.

George,

You need to do a little more research before replying.

http://www.hangar9aeroworks.com/Aeronca ... strut.html

This cleary state that you put oil in the strut.

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.

Works a lot nicer with oil George And they call it an Oleo

Gotcha this time. But I must admit you're seldom wrong so please excuse me while I relish the moment

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.

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.)

wag aero has the cub kits,
does anyone have a kit for the aeronica?
dave

Dave,

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.

Keith

thanks keith
dave

i see this L-4 is on trade a plane
65K
dave