I chose to delete the Van’s Grove wheels and brakes from the kit and upgrade to Matco I Series wheels and brakes. I also deleted the tires and tubes and purchased Desser retreads. The complete list of parts that were deleted and ordered is listed here.
I first removed the brake discs from the main wheels. These need a T27 Torx bit to remove. I didn’t take a picture before removing the brakes.
The tire and tube installation is straight forward. Tire talc and a few cycles of partial inflation/deflation are used to make sure there are no wrinkles in the tubes.
I can’t do anything more with the main wheels until I install the landing gear so I reattached the brake discs loosely for now.
The Matco front axle requires a hole to be drilled in the nose gear fork to prevent the axle from rotating. The head of the bolt sits in the opening of the fairing mounting bracket.
I marked the location and used the axle spacer as a drill guide.
I chose to prime and paint the fork. I painted it white so to make it easier to inspect for cracks.
I then packed the nose wheel bearings with Aeroshell 22 grease and mounted the wheel.
