Leveling aircraft solely by nosewheel ?

[Airways]

According the maintenance manual, you can level a Mooney just by varying the nosewheel tyre pressure.  Is this true ? I’ll need to level my plane in order to calibrate the fuel level readings on my EDM.  I was expecting a need for jacking up the plane or something else...

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, Airways said:

According the maintenance manual, you can level a Mooney just by varying the nosewheel tyre pressure.  Is this true ? I’ll need to level my plane in order to calibrate the fuel level readings on my EDM.  I was expecting a need for jacking up the plane or something else...

I've weighed one Mooney, and we had to let all of the air out of the nosewheel and put 3/4" spacers under the main gear to get it level.   It was a C model.

[Airways]

That might work without too much hassle.  Anybody did this with a K ?

[PT20J]

I've never tried it although the manual for the J says it works. But...

The wheelbase is about 72". The airplane sits about 5 deg. nose high. 72 * tan(5 deg) = 6.3". It's hard to see how you could lower the nose 6" by deflating the tire. You could always run the mains up on a couple of short 2x6 boards and then let air out of the nose wheel tire.

Skip

[carusoam]

Expect lowering the air pressure to be a fine adjustment... 

As in, get it close by using a couple of boards, and adjust the final amount by letting air out...

 

I think I read that around here somewhere... + It Makes sense... 

I don’t think the words solely by adjusting air pressure will work... that could be mis-interpreted around the world by so many different people...

Best regards,

-a-

[tmo]

My K will NOT be level by just letting the air out of the front tire. When lifted by the jack points, the main landing gear wheels are an inch or so above the floor, so it isn't just old pucks.

[Airways]

10 minutes ago, tmo said:

My K will NOT be level by just letting the air out of the front tire. When lifted by the jack points, the main landing gear wheels are an inch or so above the floor, so it isn't just old pucks.

So jacking up is no solution either ?  I don’t mind using boards, but I find it odd that a maintenance manual can be off by so much.  My trust in manuals is pretty unconditional, you know 

[tmo]

Jacking the plane worked; it lifted the main wheels up about an inch till the plane was level (the two odd screws above avionics bay panel). We chose to jack the mains up because we had the jacks, but putting the mains on some wood /plastic / maybe even cardboard would have worked as well.

Edited September 24, 2020 by tmo

[Airways]

So let me get this right;  deflating the nose tire + jacking the mains 1 inch agl leveled the plane ? 

[ragedracer1977]

1 hour ago, Airways said:

So let me get this right;  deflating the nose tire + jacking the mains 1 inch agl leveled the plane ? 

That worked on my C model.  @Eric J weighed mine.  Nose tire flat, a couple ~3/4" boards under the mains, and it was level.

[tmo]

3 hours ago, Airways said:

So let me get this right;  deflating the nose tire + jacking the mains 1 inch agl leveled the plane ?

Partly deflating the nose tire and jacking the mains about 1" leveled the plane, yes. Some plywood under the mains would have worked as well.

[RLCarter]

I use a couple of 2x12’s under the mains, then fine tune it with nose wheel psi. My hangar floor is fairly level but you can adjust left/right with tire psi on the mains.