Gear Fairings
January 23, 2022 – I have been working on the gear fairings when I’m not flying. I haven’t kept track of time, but here’s the lot of the pictures I have taken.
Category: Landing Gear
Started Gear Leg Fairings
July 22, 2021 – While I’m waiting to do my engine run and later tasks to get ready for inspection, I started on the gear leg fairings.
The drawing for the leg fairings contains a full-scale template for each RV model. I chose to use measurements instead of cutting up the sheet.
The fairings are held tight by a hinge that is installed inside the fairing.
I’m pretty sure I’ll have to trim the total length of these fairings. There’s some interference between the fairings and the brake lines at the lower end that should be relieved by trimming the fairings. That trim should be covered by the wheel pants.
I also started the wheel pants.
the first part of this job is to sand the fairing halves so they fit nicely together. I also drilled the holes for the screws.
I also trimmed the openings for the tires. I took measurements off of another RV-7.
I’m at a stopping point on these. I don’t need these to fly, and Oshkosh is around the corner. I also need to look into jacks for the airplane, since the book calls for the airplane to be level and off the ground.
Time: 9:05
Brakes!
July 2, 2021 – Today I serviced the brakes.
I started by making the links that connect the rudder cables to the pedals. These are made of steel. I still wasn’t really sure how long to make them, so I made them according to the drawing, which still leaves it open to where the pedals are set. It’s still kind of hard to tell, but the pedals appear to be in a good position. If I have to do it again when I get my seats, I will.
A friend had an as yet unused ATS brake servicing tool, essentially a garden sprayer. This has fittings used for brake servicing and bleeding. I also put a barbed AN fitting in the top of the reservoir to catch overflow.
In the second picture you can see the fluid in the lines at the pedals.
The smell of 5606 took me back to my C-5 days. We used to bathe in this stuff.
This went very easily. Connect everything, pressurize the pot, then open the valve. It took a couple of tries to get fluid with no air out of the top. It doesn’t appear that I have any leaks. When I go back in a couple of days I’ll try the pedals and see how they feel.
Time: 5:00
Installed Tailwheel Springs
June 25, 2020 – I installed the springs on the tailwheel.
Assembly of these is pretty simple. They seem pretty tight, but they have about 1/2″ play, which is what the book calls for.
Time: :45
Installed brake lines
March 18, 2018 – It was actually about a week ago, but I finished installing the brake lines on the gear legs.
Not much to say…this was pretty straight-forward.
Time: 4:00
On the Gear!!!
February 22, 2018 – It’s on the gear!
After the previous session, I ordered some corrosion preventative compound for the final permanent gear install. While I was waiting on that, I installed the brakes on the wheels. No big deal.
Today, Floyd and Randy came over to help me hoist the airplane again and permanently install the gear. We removed the gear legs, honed the tubes in the engine mount, reamed the bolt holes, and reinstalled the gear legs. They still took a bit of persuasion, but they’re in. Had to drive the bolts in using a rivet gun, but they need to be an interference fit. No pictures of the process, but here it is:
Time: 2:00
Installed wheels on gear legs
February 8, 2018 – Today I drilled the axles and installed the wheels and tires.
I wanted to install the gear into the airplane one time, after the wheels were completely done. However, I couldn’t hold the gear legs and the wheels adequately where I could torque the wheels and locate and drill the axle holes. So I decided to put the gear in the airplane and do the work that way.
My friend Chris (Sticker) came over to help. First of all, don’t ask why he goes by “Sticker”. I don’t know. Someday I’ll get the story.
Anyway, we hoisted the airplane, still with the intention to install the gear for good, then work the wheels and let it down and be done.
We greased up the gear legs, and had a really hard time getting them all the way up and into position where the bolt holes line up. The right gear is about 1/4 hole off, and we could never get it all the way into position. So we threw some temporary bolts into the holes, and decided that we would put the airplane on a sawhorse, and I would do the wheels.
I torqued the axle nut (as best I could); there is no firm data on torque published. I started the holes with a short #30 bit in an angle drill, then drilled with a #40, then a #30.
I deburred it all, then reinstalled the wheels.
We’re going to remove the gear legs, clean everything up, chamfer edges, then try to install the gear legs for good.
Time: 3:00
Started main landing gear
February 2, 2018 – Okay. Now that the engine mount is on, I want to look towards getting the airplane on it’s feet.
The brake flanges need to be reamed to 5/16″. It was more removal of powder-coating than any material. I also ran the reamer through the holes in the gear legs.
I then made 6 spacers that are 13/32″ long. These provide a standoff for the wheel pant bracket.
The brake bracket attaches to the flange using 3 of the 4 bolts. This took some research online to figure out how these parts go together. I’d read that the drawings and instructions were practically non-existent, and that the instructions refer to Cleveland parts. My parts are from Matco. I found some pretty good documentation from other people. I also discovered that I had to trim the wheel pant brackets to fit the Matco brakes. So I marked what had to be trimmed, and clecoed the two wheel pant brackets together to make the cutouts the same.
I drilled the screw and nutplate holes in the brackets. Once that was done, I prepped and painted them.
I started on the wheels and tires. Here’s a wheel assembled as shipped from Matco.
The plated part is the brake rotor. It’s assembled with the wheel halves. I disassembled one wheel.
I had previously put air in the tubes to make sure they were OK, since they came from Vans folded up in plastic bags. I deflated them totally in order to put them in the tires.
I shook a fair amount of talcum powder into the tires and shook it around. This would help lubricate the tube as it was placed inside.
Trying to keep the valve stem more or less in line with the red dot on the tire sidewall, I stuffed the tube into the tire.
Once it was cleanly in place, I put a little bit of air in the tube to make it fill into the tire.
Here’s the tube with the valve stem:
Then it was time to install the wheel halves into the tires. I used some dishwashing soap to lube the tire. The outboard wheel half has a hole for the valve stem. Easy enough to put it in the proper position. These wheels do not have a grommet for the valve stem.
I put the wheel halves together, along with the brake rotor and installed the bolts, which get torqued to 100 in/lbs.
I was a little confused about securing the valve stem. I had nuts that came with the tubes, and I assumed they would secure the valve stem after the wheel was assembled. But thethreads on the valve stem stopped before the not would secure anything.
I called Matco, and they told me that the valve stem did not need a grommet or a locknut. OK.
I assembled the brake flange and wheel pant brackets on the gear legs, hopefully for the last time. These nuts and bolts are so close to the brake flange, and were a real pain to torque. Here’s several views of the left and right gear legs:
Next I have to lube the wheel bearings, install the wheels, and drill the cotter pin holes in the axles.
Time: 7:10