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Can anybody advise of a vendor or a good place to buy a new set of nose gear boots? I recently saw a pair on Ebay that were made of Kelvar (seems like overkill, unless you are flying over a warzone...)

This may be the boots you're thinking of ....

Part Number: MC0413304-3
Description: BOOT 150-152 STEERING (Kevlar)
FAA-PMA
PMA Supplement 1
Qty per Aircraft: 2
Unit of Measure: EACH
List Price: $65.80
Inventory Status: Stock
Your Discount Price: $52.64
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The steering boots on the Cessna Aircraft have a big job to do. They must keep out exhaust gases and prevent smoke and fumes from entering the cockpit in the event of an engine fire while tolerating the constant air pulses caused by the rotating propeller. McFarlane Steering Rod boots are manufactured with a unique black Kevlar/Fiberglass blend fabric. The yarn for this fabric is made by twisting two Kevlar threads around one fiberglass thread. The cloth is then woven and bonded with an extra pliable silicone rubber. This combination prevents fiber fracture and gives flex strength and high temperature performance for many years. The McFarlane boots will outlast the Cessna boots several times.

Reg:

Thanks for the link. Looks like a fair price to me! I bought Kevlar to use on a fuel tank I built and it's not only expensive stuff, but hard to work with (in composite building) and regular scissors can't cut this stuff.

Good points. I'll contact them next week and place an order.

They're in my future as well ... planned for this fall. It will require drilling out the current rivets and then re-rivetting with cherry max rivets under the watchful eye of my mech...at the same time I am planning to replace my 20 amp generator with a 50-amp operator, add shoulder belts and VGs, all pending the ability to get the time away from work, and availability of dollars.

Another Reg on the site ... cool!

Reg H.

SHOULDER BELTS

Man, that's something I basically overlooked but would like to add sometime. Is this a lot of work/expense?

I bought VGs earlier this year but haven't gotten around to installing them yet. Painted the darned thngs and my spray gun went wacko and as a result I got too much paint on them and especially underneath. Stupid me, I tried to tape them to clear 2 inch wide, clear package tape and I didn't have any real "masking tape" at the time which would have done a better job.

Make sure you use masking tape (if you elect to paint them). I wish now that I would have left my VGs bare, but several guys have painted them red to keep the line boys from knocking them off during refueling.

I guess I'll hold off on the nose gear boots for several months. I gotta get this bird in the air.

Hey Reg...
In looking at your post a second time, I don't see the link to this product like I thought. Who do I contact?

Roy,
Try the 'Fiskars' brand $6.00 sissors. They'll cut the kevlar, not an extremely pretty cut like the $800.00 'pizza cutter' rotary blade will do but they'll get you by....up to about 10-15 oz. material. Anything beyond that you may need to go industrial.

Oh, and to honor my New Years Resolution to 'try and stay on topic', I have the Kevlar steering rod boots and Charles Hanna seems to think they'll be the last pair I'll ever have to buy!!

Bengie

http://www.mcfarlaneaviation.com/

I talked with the McFarlane rep at the Oshkosh booth. The company owns a 152 (Employee flying club?) and have equipped it with every product that McFarlane makes that fits a 152. I asked if they could bring it to Clinton next year (they are in Kansas) and give us a talk about their products, and it looks promising. I've got to follow up on this.

Charles

Hi Reg - yes, not too many of us around... I've only met about half a dozen others, including my grandfather