Thread: Front suspension play

Hi Guys,

This message is for anyone that put in the FD front suspension upgrade with the red plastic spacers. I have found 2 planes with excessive space and movement up and down. Try this quick test. Have someone push your tail down and try to move your front wheel up and down. The last couple I checked had about 1" of upward travel. There shouldn't be any play. It should be free of up and down play when using just your hand. The wheel has to be up off the ground to check for this.

If you find extra up and down play you can add a whole red plastic spacer or cut one in half. You may start to find this play at around 200-250 + hours.

So what do you make of this? I was planning on doing the mod at my annual, but if there's issues, I don't see why I should. I have 500+ landings on the old suspension and never had a problem.

Do the mod. It is much better than the original. The play is on the up stroke at the very top. I have only found 2 so not a big deal.

Hi Guys,

If you find extra up and down play you can add a whole red plastic spacer or cut one in half. You may start to find this play at around 200-250 + hours. Adding a spacer is easy to do.

This message is for anyone that put in the FD front suspension upgrade with the red plastic spacers. I have found 2 planes with excessive space and movement up and down. Try this quick test. Have someone push your tail down and try to move your front wheel up and down. The last couple I checked had about 3/4"-1" of upward travel. There shouldn't be any play. It should be free of up and down play when using just your hand. The wheel has to be up off the ground to check for this.

I believe the kits are still free for the upgrade. This gives your front end a more positive track and less bouncing from the up and down motion of the regular spring.


This is a better system than the spring and the spring will also wear out and need replacing over normal wear and tear.

Roger, can you tell me exactly what behavior the mod fixes? I'm still unclear on what the benefit of the mod is.

It keeps your front suspension from hitting hard on the bottom and top of the stroke when landing or taking off. It also firms up the steering which helps on landings and taxi.

Roger L, I have absoutly no play in the nose gear after the mod. Should there be any play at all??

Nope, it should be firm and no slop.