Two types of landing gear
Early Style Gear mounted to front of spar
The early style Landing gear is fabricated from tubes. It is mounted to the front of the spar and therefore interferes with the wing tank. The wing tank has an extra space for the gear here. As a result, most fuel tanks do not fit here. Luckily, the original tanks for these planes were made from stainless steel and will last a long time.
Early Style Gear mounted to front of spar
The 700X4 balloon tires (blue airframe) use 12-15 PSI. Keep the tires on the soft side a bit, however if too soft then these old wheels will slip the tire and tube enough causing the valve stem to break off causing a ground loop should too much braking be applied. It is better to keep pressure somewhat higher such that when You push down by hand on the tire top that You can feel some give. If you have to go on the softer side then stay off the brakes. Applying even a bit too much braking can rip the valve stems off. Not a good way to start you day. Those (700) 800X4 tubes are very expensive as are the tires. Many people have switched to more modern wheels and tires types.
Early Style Gear shown behind the tank, Notice this gear fairing differs from the later style fairing
Later style aluminum gear mounted on rear of the spar
This image shows the later style forged aluminum landing gear. These gears are used on planes from serial number 813 on. By attaching the landing gear to the rear of the spar, could be built more easily and it made more room for gasoline. The downside is that working on the main gear becomes a bit difficut now. When planning to remove the whole gear for overhaul, consider taking off the wings as well.
Both gears are sharing the same washers at the knee joints. Need 2 each side (Wayne):
