The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I recently bought a C170A with the C180 Gear/P.Ponk conversion on it. On the ground, both wheels/tires are angled inward, and a few people have mentioned that this might be a contributing factor to the touchiness on landing, and that I might want to shim the axles so that the tires rest somewhat more level on the ground.

I looked at A/C Spruce, and they have three different shims available. Can anyone suggest which angle shims to use on my plane?

Thanks a bunch!

Trevor, that's going to depend upon just how much you need to change the toe-in to toe-out. You'll need to measure your actual toe-in, then calculate which shims will nuetralize the wheels.
Ideally, at 2,000 lbs you'll have zero toe-in/out.

I figured it was a situation-specific answer... I'll measure that when I get home from my holiday family obligations

Thanks for the help!

Assuming you have shims, you may be able to reposition them to get the needed correction.

i guess what i'm looking at is the CAMBER, not the Toe-In. The wheels are not necessarily out of alignment, but the bottoms are angled inward, like, towards the belly of the airplane. I ordered a set of 1 degree shims from aircraft spruce today, but after looking into this further I think I'll need a few sets, since the camber is off probably around 3 degrees...

when I get home, I'll do a more accurate measurement.

Your camber should only zero out completely at 2000 lbs. If your airplane isn't loaded down, some positive camber is normal.

there seems to be quite a bit of positive camber, even when loaded. when I get home from this trip on saturday, i'm going to take some measurements and start installing shims.

thanks for the help guys!

Re: Wheel alignment, the maintenance manual outlines the proper procedure for checking and setting both camber and toe.

Improper alignment can make the airplane really squirrely on the ground.

it isnt the alignment thats particularly off... its the camber that concerns me. the airplane isn't overly sensitive on landing, its just a bit touchier than i have experienced on other 170s. we'll see...