Thanks a bunch. These photos will be a tremendous help. I can build one of these tools pretty easily.
Re your opinion, " Personally, unless you have a need for speed and never intend to use your PA12 in the rough stuff, I would suggest dumping the 12 gear and replace it with PA18 gear. (we have been over that before)"
I hear what you are saying and appreciate it. But this is how it comes through in translation, "Jim, I think you should take a plane that can be put back in the air for about 200 more dollars and park it in an uncompleted condition for a minimum of several years till your children are out of college and you can afford to replace your brand new gear (which has never flown), so that you will find it easier to fly out of cow pastures and wheat fields in the Mississippi Delta and sand bars on the Mississippi River".
Do you really think I should put the plane aside without completing it when it is this close to flying? As an aside, I did search and rescue flying for about 17 years, mostly in a J-3 and a PA-11, and consequently still have considerably more takeoffs and landings off airport than on. But in this part of the world, 8.00x4's and 8.50x6's are more than adequate for any landing anywhere. There is no rock here, there are no hills. The whole durned region is flat to an extent that would make a pancake look mountainous. Do you honestly think the modified gear or bush wheels would make it easier to fly out of a wheat field or off a bar in the Mississippi? As an aside, the dunes on the bars in the Mississippi are shaped like sawteeth and up to about 3-4 feet high. Consequently, you always land downriver no matter what the wind is doing. Going downriver you jump off the dunes like going off a ski jump. Going upriver, they are almost vertical and high enough to flip the plane even with the largest bush wheels and extended gear. I really believe you are trying to persuade me to modify the plane to suit conditions which don't exist near anyplace it is likely to be flown.
I can't afford to fly to Alaska or Oregon and back. One of the things that has become obvious to me here is that even though I own 4 planes, most of you have far more disposable income than I do.
After the kids are out of school, I might be willing to spend a few thousand on a mod that I might expect to use only one time, or maybe twice at the most. Unless of course, you'd like to volunteer to pay for it for me... In which case, I would do an immediate about face.
All the best,
Jim
P.S. Thanks a bunch for the bungee tool photos