Kitfox gear conversion

WurlyBird · Post by **WurlyBird** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:09 am

Anyone know what it would take, or if it is possible, to convert a Kitfox V Vixen to a tail dragger? I have been told that since they had two models at that time they can not be converted. I have seen a lot of the older tail wheel only kits show up as tricycle gear which in my mind would be a harder exchange. What would be involved in such a change? Thanks for any information.

Cub flyer · Post by **Cub flyer** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:10 pm

I'm guessing here but I think the gear attach lugs are there for a spring gear. Or the classic bungee gear.

Can you send a photo of your airplanes belly. compare to model IV fuselage bottoms.

The tailwheel needs a spring perch plate on the tailpost bottom and a horn on the rudder.

If the vixen has a swept rudder hinge line that may be a problem.

You will need toe brakes if not installed.

WurlyBird · Post by **WurlyBird** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:21 pm

Cub flyer wrote:You will need toe brakes if not installed.

This may all be a little random, bare with me. First of all I just want to ask about the word NEED, not all planes have brakes and certainly a good percentage of kits don't have dual brakes. So do you really NEED toe brakes or do they just make ground handling a whole lot easier?

Another thing you mentioned was the horn on the rudder. I assume (I hate to do it but I am new to tail draggers) that the horn is for the steering assist. Again, is this NEEDED or is it just a heck of a lot easier to drive around?

The Vixen has solid aluminum landing gear, from the pictures I am looking at it is simply held on by two steel brackets. One at either side that simply sandwiches the gear in place. If this is the case, can't those mounting plates be moved forward and the gear moved?

As for the swept tail, yeah the Vixen has a swept tail, probably 20 degrees or so. I believe this is an issue because of the horn again? And about this spring plate, this does not sound very hard to make. I have pictures of both the tricycle gear and tail dragger fuselages and the construction of the tail section appears to be just about identical as far as tube size and supports. So aside from the parts not being on the shelf waiting for this conversion it doesn't look impossible to me.

So now let me throw myself at the mercy of the court before I get verbally slain; I KNOW that nothing is as easy as "just moving it" and that there are structural design loads, weak point, etc, etc. I was going to school for aerospace engineering before I dropped out to join the Army and at least made it as far as Dynamics and Solid Mechanics so I can disassemble a bridge in my head to some extent and see what the parts are doing. But I also worked at a glider port and was friends with the guys who were always changing their planes with crazy results, putting 914s on 300lb ragwing ultralights, floats on a Teenie Too!, jet engines on gliders (I am glad that one fell through before the test flight). I would use an A&P for all changes, for now I am just trying to figure out if it CAN be done.

And so you know the reason; my wife and I are shopping for a kit to build. We found a guy with a Kitfox V Vixen that including what he has for sale is a good deal that fits into our budget nicely. But we want a tail dragger. Even if it costs us $1-2,000 to convert this is still probably one of our best opportunities to have this nice of a plane. Oh, and by the way, it has dual toe brakes.

Thanks for the replies.

SkySteve · Post by **SkySteve** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:23 am

WurlyBird,
Contact John McBean at Kitfox Aircraft, located in Homedale, Idaho. Here is the website: http://www.kitfoxaircraft.com/

I did mods to my Kitfox so it can go from Tail Dragger to Nose Wheel and back again.

WurlyBird · Post by **WurlyBird** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:15 pm

Yeah, I contacted them. I am not trying to be down on their customer service, they respond quickly to my emails and usually have a pretty good answer. However some questions, including the one about the gear conversion, seem to have responses that politely equate to "thank you for your interest in Kitfox but since you are not buying a new kit and I was not around when that kit was designed we don't have quite as much time to answer your questions." My inquiry as to the possibility of converting it which had to be resent when they replied to a follow on email but not the initial was responded to with a four word sentence;

"Vixen cannot be converted."

The simple fact that it is an experimental aircraft means it CAN be converted, the real question is how much trouble is it worth? I still plan to buy a Kitfox, but I think I have been told that they are not going to be much help with doing anything that is not in the instruction manual. And that is okay, that is why there are forums to talk about this stuff.

mcjon77 · Post by **mcjon77** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:44 pm

Have you tried the matronics kitfox forum/email list?
http://forums.matronics.com/viewforum.php?f=8

They seem to be reasonably active with a large group of kitfox builders on there.

SkySteve · Post by **SkySteve** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:53 pm

I understand your frustration. I expierenced some of the same stuff. I have a model 1 and was told you couldn't put a nose wheel on it. Well, it has one now!

Mcjon77 is right. The Kitfox matronics list is a good place for information and building help.

WurlyBird · Post by **WurlyBird** » Mon May 19, 2008 1:32 pm

Thanks for all the help, guys. I am now on the Matronix list as well. That is a good source of information, thanks for the tip. So anyone have any other information?

CTflyer · Post by **CTflyer** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:48 am

nothing about Matronix ... but for some reason I get RSS "updates" about three week late.

it's nearly 6am EST on Tuesday, June 3, and I just got two RSS updates from here: Wurly's May 19 post, and Optifuel's May 19 post. And the RSS timestamp of both of those was 5:42am today. weird.

maybe the forum is just trying to keep us involved?

Tom