HELP! Installing Hobbico retracts!

[wiredupjax]

First time with any mechanical (or any type) retract!

So, I am installing them in a Great Planes .40 AT-6... the problem I am having is getting them positioned and bent correctly.

SPECIFICALLY, are you supposed to bend the retract 90 degrees in order to put the wheels on OR is there another trick? IF you are supposed to bend it, how do you ensure that the bend is at the precise location so that the wheel fits perfectly into the wheel well?

I bent one 90 degrees using a vice; it ended up being just slightly too long (didn't bend it short enough) and it wouldn't fit in the well... there doesn't seem to be a height adjustment.

The other retract bar snapped halfway through the bend.

LOTS here but REALLY need some help from a fellow modeler!

[hawker3119]

Hi there i guess your talking wire retracts 3/16" if you bend them in a vice alone yes you may snap the metal remember it is a type of spring steel (do not heat) a vice can be used but with a piece of Aluminum angle say 1/4" as you bend (and you use a soft hamer) the angle will start to round so the end result will be a bend with a radius not a sharp right angle. To get your length fit the retracts, put the wheel in the well mark the wire retract side of the axil hole take of half the thickness of wire and bend with the mark on the top of your alu angle the reason for the half thickness is to allow for the slight radius hope this helps.

[Campy]

The other option is to use something like the DuBro axles. You cut the wire where you want it, file a flat spot in the wire and slide the axle over the wire and tighten the set screw. Use some thread locker to make sure it doesn't loosen.

[The Blue Max]

I would recommend using the Du-Bro axles. And like Campy said remember to grind or file a flat spot on the gear leg where the set screw is at so that the axle won't rotate on hard landings or you will constantly be readjusting the alignment.

I have always just bent my own gear but the thing you have to remember about spring steel is that it is heat treated to harden it and you cannot heat it to bend it or you will take the temper out of it (as hawker3119 stated above) and when bending heat treated metals you have to make the bend in one motion. You can't bend it a little bit and check to see if you are close and then bend it again because after the first bend you will crystalize the metal causing it to get brittle and when you try to bend it again it will snap right off! I have an old vice that I drilled holes in and drove larger pieces of spring steel into those holes making a kind of jig to bend the pieces around. I usually make my jig so that when you bend the wire, you have to go past 90 degree's a little since the steel will spring back slightly after it is bent and if your jig is set up so that you can only bend it through 90 degree's your gear will spring back and end up at something like 86 degree's! It takes a little practice ( I have had about 35 years of practice) so don't get too frustrated!

Good luck!

TBM