Do landing legs actually break?

[I_Killed_Jeb]

I remember reading that one of the features for 0.22 or 0.23 was that we'd be able to fix broken landing legs like we can with rover wheels. The trouble is I've never managed to break a leg short of have the entire part break off the ship. Anyone been able to "fixably" break a leg?

[Mr.Rocket]

I think i have. If you look at the impact toloerance of the leg in the VAB/SPH, that is the impact speed that if you exceed, the leg will break. Not sure if that's the fixable speed though.

[RogueMason]

I've never done it on a mission, but I have ruined a bunch of legs in a lander test on Kerbin. They were fixable from EVA, and Buzz Kerman was quite shocked when they rebounded back into position rather suddenly from their sorry state.

[Stilgar2300]

Yes, i just broke 3 out of 6 landing legs on an emergency Munar landing. took me a while to figure out why only 3 of the six were working. wish i had a screen shot to show u

[KSK]

Yup - I had a less than gentle 'landing' on the Mun and had to fix the landing gear afterwards. The new legs will take quite a whack though before failing.

[boxman]

Yup - I had a less than gentle 'landing' on the Mun and had to fix the landing gear afterwards. The new legs will take quite a whack though before failing.

To the point where there is hardly any challenge left.. Surely realistic to come crashing down at 20m/s and have it land just fine.

[John FX]

I have made a drop pod that hits the ground at over 37m/s using very minimal, late chutes. (As it is a drop pod I assume a little internal cushioning for the kerbal) I have 3 of the smallest legs as `shock absorbers` and usually only two break. I`ve found this to be pretty much it for these legs and this pod if you want to know you will land ok.

It should depend on just how much mass is hitting the ground at the speeds mentioned. My drop pod is very light. I would expect a very large craft to break legs at much lower speeds.