Extended Gear on my M4 - First Impressions

[Redhawk]

Just wanted to post initial impressions after doing my 1st flight in my M4-210C with the new Extended Gear...

1. 1st takeoff was noticeably better... No more dragging the tail wheel on the runway while the wings were ready to fly!
2. I have 8.00 tires, and with a "normal" 60 mph approach, with a touchdown at 50 to 55, it lands in a nice 3 point attitude. No more "Maule Plop" from the tail wheel hitting 1st!
3. The "sight picture" on landing works out great as the bottom edge of the windshield is now exactly on the horizon.
4. It will still hit tail wheel 1st on slower short field landings, but the "plop" is not nearly as bad. (Bigger tires will negate this)
5. I may have lost a few MPH's of speed without the main leg fairings but too difficult to really judge yet.
6. Am I glad I did it?.....YES!

[ajak]

Congrats on the new gear! It's on my list... I've been searching around a bit on the forums, but haven't come across it yet. Do you know how much wider the gear width at the tires is, compared to stock gear? And does the longer oleo provide a greater range of motion for shock absorption?

AJ

[iceman]

when i was considering thiis for my m4 years ago Wup at ABW said it would raise the plane 4 inches and widen the main width by 2 inches

[ajak]

Thanks! Good info...

[Hottshot]

One of the best mods for the Maule hands down!

[andy]

The extended ABI gear is a great mod - especially if you intend to put a longer prop on. I have the standard length ABI gear with 31" ABI bushwheels. If I had the extended gear, I'd need a ladder to get in and out of the airplane and an 8" cushion to see over the nose.

[crbnunit]

Well, I can tell you from recent experience that with an 82" prop and two flat 31's on extended gear that there is indeed plenty of prop clearance. I am 5'11" and usually taxi leaning forward and holding the windshield brace to see over the nose. I had to get a folding step stool for the woman to get in and out of the plane. I think I'd need a stool if I went with 35's!

[iceman]

my M4 with 29 11 10's is raised considerably with over 20 inches prop clearance and I would dearly love to exchange my 76 inch prop for a 80 incher..which I have been told is a huge improvement in climb and all other performance..I put the extended gear on the back burner with the 80 incher taking precedence but good on ya for that improvement... I too, incidentally, have to grab the v brace in taxi....

[chazdevil]

Yup, extended gear should come from the factory standard.
Forward vis during taxi is overrated.
My old instructor Steve Wolff used to say when learning in the Pitts.
"Don't look where you cannot see"
Worked well even in a P-51.
FWIW

[crbnunit]

FYI. Extended gear and 31's you still pick up rocks with an 82" prop if you aren't careful.

[ajak]

Just a mini-data dump to add to the collective knowledge bank.

I had the extended gear installed on my M-6 a couple of weeks ago. It replaces stock Maule gear, with 29" ABW tires. Before and after the gear change, I measured prop clearance (prop tip to ground, with Hartzell 81"), width between tires (distance between inner sidewalls), and longitudinal position of the gear (as measured from leading edge of horizontal stabilizer to back side of the tire).

Compared to the stock gear, the Airframes Alaska extended gear resulted in the following changes:

Prop clearance: increased by 5.5"
Width between tires: increased by 4.3"
Tail-to-tire distance: tires moved forward by 2.0"

[TxAgfisher]

Has anyone extended the step to make it easier to get in and out of? Crawled around one with extended gear and 35’s and I could barely make it into the cabin.

FWIW I’m 31 and fit, albeit not the tallest guy a 5’10â€￾.

[Andy Young]

Has anyone extended the step to make it easier to get in and out of? Crawled around one with extended gear and 35’s and I could barely make it into the cabin.

FWIW I’m 31 and fit, albeit not the tallest guy a 5’10â€￾.

I think the extra lever arm on an extended step would make it likely to break. I agree that on tall gear and 35s, it's a bit of a climb....

Hmm...you could just hang a webbing strap off the bottom of the stock step (like an etrier for you old aid-climbers out there; I'm looking at you, crbnunit). Hopefully it would trail in the wind, like the rope extensions float planes have on the tie-down rings. Of course, this might give you the same issue of potentially breaking the step off, but since it would hang straight down, it might be less likely to do that than a hard extension at the same angle as the original step.

[Mog]

My pilot side step is inadvertently extended. When I folded the gear I also folded the step. So I bought the repair kit from maule. My A&P at the time either misunderstood or just didn’t want to cut the step to length. So he bolted on the whole piece. It certainly can feel a bit flimsy, but it holds my 260lbs without giving way.

[crbnunit]

So that would make it an A1 or an A2? It can be kind of tricky so I'm going with A2!