Regarding the wheel extenders, are they really that bad and can they be removed? easily and accurately that is.

Thanks.

They just bolt on. You will have to shorten the brake line flex hose as well when you remove the extenders.
I had them on my 140 when I learned too fly, removed them after a few yew years and it was a different ship on landing. Some guys keep them on to prevent going on the nose when braking hard.

Dave

Thanks Dave, when you say a different bird on landing do you mean better, worse or just different?

Moving the main wheels farther ahead of the CG would make a nose-over harder, but a ground loop easier. Think about it.
IMHO the problem with the wheel extenders is that they give quite a bit of leverage to the main wheels for making the gear legs twist-- a constantly changing castor (toe-in) would make for an exciting landing. Plus they make the airplane look wierd, with the gear legs comng down to the off-center of the wheels.

I had extenders on my old 140 for years and never had a problem. Even flew is some pretty good x-winds and it didn't seem to effect it much. But I never flew a 140 without them either, I may have been missing out.

A friend of mine used to have a real nice C120, non-electric & quite light. He figured without the heavy generator & starter ahead of the firewall he didn't need the wheel extenders, he'd save some weight & get better handling by removing them. Worked fine until he nosed it over in a panic-stop while fast-taxiing.

Our 140 came without the extenders. It's the plane I learned to fly a tailwheel in, and I never understood the need for them. We had if for 4 or 5 years and I never got even close to nosing it over. I've heard stories both ways, and as I've never flown a 140 with the extenders, I don't have any input as to the handling differences. I guess it's whatever your comfortable with. Personally, if I bought another one that had them on, I'd take them off. They just didn't seem necessary to me. But maybe our plane was heavy in the tail or something. (It wasn't, by they way. We weighed it and it came in about average to the other guys at the 120/140 site) I never got close to ground looping it either. I guess I'm just lucky - so far.

I had a 140 with the extenders. Landed fine I never flew it without them.

I think somewhere along the line they redesigned the gear to be further forward.
I don't know if the redesigned gear went as far forward as the extenders.

Thanks for the input, I seem to remember somebody saying they could be installed wrong giving the airplane a bit of toe in or out on one side which would make it a bit fun, to say the least.

Any thoughts on the baggage space? I flew in a 120 once but it was only around the pattern, cant say i remember looking back! I must have been 17 or 18 at the time, the owner let me fly it to short final before taking over. He never did say what speed I should be doing, the way he took over I must have been going warp 3.... He got us down on the 2300 ft. runway without nosing over.

The later 140's had a swept forward gear to place the wheels forward. I have seen extenders on 140's with the swept forward gear-go figure. Maybe a belt and suspender thing. I learned to fly with the extenders and it was fine. I took them off and it seems to handle, IMHO, better. You also save some weight. With 140's having a useful load of 450-500 every little bit helps. Just remember to keep your heels on the floor and tell yourself that you don't have to make that first intersection all the time.
The baggage area is on the bigger side for this class of airplane. I have a shelf so I can stack stuff instead of just packing it all in. I like that. There is a factory child seat mod that allows you to put a small seat back there for small passengers(I think there is a weight limit with that installed).
The 140 is a great airplane for what it is. They are less expensive, but don't let that lead to you to believe that they are a junk. I think they are an undervalued a/c. It is a good honest taildragger. Now is a good time to buy. The 140 website is also a great source of info.
Good Luck,
Dave

Thanks guys.
My wife seems to think we need 4 seats, I keep telling her those 2 extra seats are gonna cost and besides I don't want to take the kids.....