Feb 08, 2020     Set breakout force on nosewheel - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Removed the wheel, set breakout force on the assembly to about 18 pounds (it moved one way easier than the other), drilled the axle, installed a cotter pin, and reinstalled the tire. Tire nut tightened to 185 inch pounds.

  Aug 18, 2019     Final touches on fairing - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

As directed, I scuffed up a top section of the fairing, then added a squirt of RTV and reinstalled the fairing. I'm not entirely sure what the point of that is.

I also remade the hinge pin and locking hinge and drilled and installed. I'm still not entirely happy with this method and the liklihood it's going to chafe the gear leg. Maybe I'll put some RTV in there. More than likely, once I have an airworthiness certificate, I'll just safety wire the hinge pin, which, by the way, isn't going anywhere since the fit is very tight.

On to the canopy!

  Aug 14, 2019     Finished (somewhat) nose gear fairing - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Of all the tasks on the RV-12 so far, the gear leg fairing has been the biggest pain in the ass. The design is poor, the instructions ridiculous and inconsistent.

I followed the suggestion to transfer the center line of the hinge (the instructions were updated because the original instructions were so poor) but it only marginally worked. There are just too many points of failure where accuracy is concerned in this method.

So the hinge is installed but it's not seated as nicely as I woiuld like. As a result, it's a struggle to get the hinge pin fully inserted (I'll probably go with two hinge pins).

The locking mechanism (a single hinge eye) is also problematic.There's no way, it seems to me, that the nutplate and screw doesn't end up chafing the gear leg. I don't see how this is acceptable to Van's. Currently, the hinge pin is so tight, I may just leave it unsecured. Or not use the fairing at all. We'll see.

Van's insisted that using AN3-3.5 rivets (too short, use 3-4) would work and the fairing could take the stress of being pried open to get the squeezer in to rivet on the hinges, but I still ended up with lots of cracks in the gel coat at the top.

I hope Van's eventually reconsiders this mess.

  Aug 13, 2019     Drilled hinge to gear-leg fairing - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

The method of installing the hinge to the gear leg fairing leaves a lot to be desired. The instructions I had said to mark a centerline on the hinge and mark rivet holes and then clamp it into place and drill at the appointed locations. But the grey gelcoat prevents that from working.

Van's sent me updated instructions that said to transfer the center line to the fairing itself, then mark the rivet locations, then drill the holes, THEN clamp the hinge in place.

That's a better method but still difficult. It's hard to clamp the hinge, for one thing.

I got it done but it's nowhere near as good as I want. Center line? Ha!

In the end, the hinge didn't seat properly in the "V" of the gear leg fairing. I haven't riveted it on yet, but I'm also surprised that Van's is using an AN3-3.5 squeezed rivet instead of pop rivets here. Seems like getting a squeezer on it is problematic and threatens to distort the hinge.

We'll see.

  Aug 11, 2019     Drilled gear leg fairing - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Having used the plumb bobs to make sure the gear leg fairing is properly aligned, I drilled the two holes into the gear leg that holds it in place, then tapped the holes.

Drilling into a rounded piece of steel sucks. You try to do the best you can but match drilling through fiberglass first is bound to enlarge THAT hole. I thought I had the two holes aligned with each other (I think it was 7" from the winch bracket) but they're slightly mismatched.

Then I mixed up epoxy and shoved it in the hole to create the "disk" inside (presumably to make it easy to align with the hole when taking the fairing off and on.

  Aug 02, 2019     Started on nose gear leg fairing - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Started on the gear leg fairing after doing some more adjustments on the nosewheel fairing to make it fit just a little bit better.

Then removed the wheel fairing and sanded the gear leg fairing down to the scribe line, cut out the slot for the winch attachment, fit it to the gear leg, added plum bobs on either side to get it centered, and then drilled three holes in the "extra material" along its length as directed.

  Jul 31, 2019     Finished nose wheel fairing - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I riveted the doublers to the wheelpant brackets after drilling and countersinking them but abandoned the two forward holes because I couldn't get a squeezer on there to dimple nor squeeze the rivets because it's blocked by a nutplate.

This seems like a mistake in the Van's instructions which, presumably, will be -- or maybe have been -- updated to add the nutplates AFTER installing the doublers.

Anyway, it's a very ingenious design that didn't become obvious to me until assembly and it fits pretty well. I do want to do some cosmetic fiberglass to fill in some gaps between the forward and aft pieces.

Next step is the leg fairing.

  Jul 30, 2019     Riveted nose wheel fairing brackets - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

With the epoxy and flox cured, I fit the doubler template, clamped it and drilled the six #19 holes and removed.This will be used for the doubler plates to be attached and match drilled, which I did.

  Jul 28, 2019     Rivted side brackets to nose wheel pant - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

After getting the aft and forward sections to mate reasonably well -- a little sanding here and there -- I mixed up some epoxy/flox and spread it under where they're attached, clecoed them to the forward fairing and then riveted them in place.

  Jul 24, 2019     Oshkosh or no? - (4 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Drove to Oshkosh but Camp Scholler was closed because of flooding, so drove back home, my plans for four days dashed. So I figured I might as well work on the plane.

Over several sessions, I cut the forward and aft pieces along the scribe line, sanded, fit them together and drilled where I'm suppose to drill. It fit pretty rough but a lot of sanding and trial and error got them fitting pretty well.

I also drilled out the attach hole on either side (first to 3/4" and then to 1") for the Bogeybar to attach to when moving the plane (someday!) in an out of the hangar.

I bent and drilled the side attach strips and fit both front and back together and sanded and test fit. Rinse. Repeat.

I sanded off a little too much on the right side so at some point I'll do some cosmetic epoxying to close up the gap.

  Jul 03, 2019     Finished right wheelpant - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I took the wheelpants off and the epoxy has cured. On the inboard side of the aft wheelpantt, it left an interesting impression -- basically no impression at all underneath the bracket, though it did create a "shelf". Even though I had it mixed up nice and thick, some of it fell . That's the hazard of using a slow hardener, I suppose. But it came out great.

I added the nutplates and remounted. Looks great.

  Jul 01, 2019     Fit right wheelpant - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I did some more fitting, and sanding -- including widening the gap between the tire -- of the right wheelpant, then mixed up some flox and epoxy and mounted it to the brackets (with a release agent). I think I actually like the left pant fitting a little bit better but I think it's come out quite nice.

  Jun 26, 2019     Fit right wheelpant - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Everything has been cut in the right wheelpant, including the cuoutt which, on fitting, seems pretty close. I need to make a bigger area for the brake line to fit through and maybe shave a little bit off the gear leg cutout.

  Jun 21, 2019     Started right wheelpant - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Removed the wheel, tire, and breaks, tapped the inboard bracket for the four AN3-4 bolts and reinstalled along with the wheelpant brackets.

Sanded the front part of the wheelpant to get the dimples and the holes in the bracket lined up.

  Jun 20, 2019     Completed left wheelpant - (4 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I had to make a run to Stillwater to pick up some Epoxy resin from West Marine, then a 17 inning Twins game kept me from doing anything yesterday, but today I added 1/16" of flox epoxy to the screw hole areas after taping off the bracket and waxing the screws. This will provide a nice centering ability when fitting the wheelpants so I'm not hunting for holes, make the area much stronger. I hope.

Removed the screws and gently "unbonded" the fiberglass from the brackets. Came out pretty good and fits nicely.

Before that, I drilled three of the aft/forward wheelpant attach holes to #27, removed and installed nutplates on the aft portion, then drilled out the other holes and added nutplates to those. I also drilled out the 8 #19 attach holes to clear them on any leftover resin.

And, after I countersunk the attach holes, reattached the wheelpant and it looks great.

Retirement is good. It gives me the luxury of having plenty of time of at least TRYING to be a perfectionist on this project.

Next : the right wheelpant

  Jun 15, 2019     Fixed left wheelpant problem - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I got new aluminum tubing from Van's and fabricated a new caliper brake line, doing it right this time, then refit the wheelpant and adjust tubing and hole cutout size accordingly. Came out fine. Drilled out the four bracket holes on each side to #19 and scuffed up the interior in anticipation of putting some flox in there for additional strength. I had to buy some new Part B Epoxy up at West Marine in Stillwater.

  Jun 09, 2019     Identified left wheelpant problem - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I couldn't get the wheelpant to fit quite right because of the brake line interference and some requests on the Facebook VAF page revealed the cause. For some reason, and only on the left side, I ran the loop on the bottom of the brake line OVER the landing gear leg instead of under it as it comes off the line, thus causing interference.

I don't have enough ATO-032x1/4 tubing so I've ordered more and removed the offending brake line.While doing that, I notice the AN angle fitting on the caliper wasn't very tight so I gave that another turn.

  Jun 06, 2019     Installed left wheelpant bracket - (2 hours) Category: Landing Gear

After several fits and starts, finally bought a #10 10-32 tap and enlarged the holes in the inside bracket, which was undersized from the company. Of course. I had to remove the axle to do it (remind me to order a new cotter pin). Fitting the wheelpant itself has been problematic based on the dimensions for the cutout in the instructions.

  May 23, 2019     Left axle work for wheelpant - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

I removed the brake caliper and axel nut (why did I waste a good cotter pin?), and the bolts holding on the axle assembly so I could remove the two washers under the bolt heads, then reinstalled all of it (except for the tire and brakes) to start adding the U-0003 assembly which will hold the inner wheelpant mount.

Then I ran into a problem. I could not get any of the AN3-4 bolts to thread into the appropriate holes.

I confirmed with Van's that the hardware callout is correct, so I guess I'll find a tap to run through the bolt holes.

  May 22, 2019     Landing gear cutout - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

I picked up a fine point Sharpee to use marking the dimensions for the landing gear cutout in the left wheelpant and made the cut. Obviously I'll have to see when fitting whether it needs to be adjusted at all.

  May 19, 2019     Sand forward half for mount fit - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I spent four or five sessions over a week or two taking the wheel pant mount brackets and comparing them to the four "dimples" in the side of the left wheelpant,then sanding the forward half until all four holes matched on each breacket and left wheelpant.

Then I drilled out what will be the holes for the screws that will hold the two halves together.

  May 07, 2019     Adjust left wheelpant cutout - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

I did not like symmetry of the two cutouts when placed together so I did a little more trimming and sanding. Obviously until I fit this to the wheel and wheelpant mounts, I won't know for sure whether this will be adequate.

  Apr 23, 2019     Trimmed wheelpant cutout - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Instructions say to use shears to trim fiberglass back to the scribe line for the wheel/tire cutout in the wheelpants. That's a good way to ruin a good pair of sheers. The only good way to do this is with a Dremel and cutoff wheel.

Will sand to perfection at some point soon.

  Apr 22, 2019     Started on wheelpants - (1.5 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

It's been awhile since I've worked with fiberglass but I started on the main gear, in this case the left main wheelpant. The parts fit together pretty well but sections of the front half sit higher than the back half so you have to sand down the inside to make them fit properly.

I used the digital caliper and found that if you get it to about.070-- somewhere around there -- they'll fit together pretty well. I didn't want to go too much thinner than that.

  Apr 16, 2019     Nose gear fork to nose leg - (.5 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Bought some Aeroshell 5 grease and soaped up the bushings on the nose gear fork. Put some Threadlocker 243 on the two allen screws that act as stops for the fork and attached it to the nose gear fork.

Used a spring scale to set the tension on the castle nut to require an 18-20 pound pull.

I still have to drill through the fork for the cotter pin.

  Apr 02, 2019     Bolted nose gear fork - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

After a long, cold, and snowy winter, it's good to get back to the hangar without being rurned back by the cold.

I prepped up he wheelpant brackets and riveted them to the nose gear assembly, then bolted the nosegear fork onto the fuselage.

I torqued the 13 AN3 bolts to about 31-32 inch pounds.

I've got to find some Aeroshell 5 grease before continuing.

Some news; I'm retiring on May 31, 2019, when I turn 65. I'll have more time to build the plane and less money to buy an engine.

  Jan 13, 2019     Main gear installed - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I rechecked the bearings to be sure they all had grease and then installed both wheels on the axle. I had to take the left side axle off because the holes in the end were vertical and they need to be horizontal. Then reinstalled.

I started working on the brackets for the wheel pants but decided to wait until after first flight to put them on. I'll have to take the axle apart at that time and install the proper brackets etc., but it doesn't make sense to do initial flight testing with the wheel pants off.

Anyway, after installing both tires, took the rear sawhorse out and let her stand on two feet. The front still has a sawhorse and the nose gear tire -- I noticed -- didn't have any air in it. So that probably has a leaky tube that will need to be replaced.

I was also the victim of bad instructions. In July I followed a step in Section 28 to add an elbow to the aft end of the brake lines. Wrong, and that has since been updated by Van's. So I'll have to buy new ferules and compression fittings.

  Jan 05, 2019     Left side axle - (2 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

I added the left side axle to the landing gear and torqued. Then checked the toe-in/toe-out with the wooden blocks. My method was a little lame because I used duct tape to attach the wooden blocks, putting a slight gape in the string to the block, but that's because it's sitting on top of duct tape. Duh. I'm calling it good. I'll recheck it when putting wheel pants on.

  Jan 02, 2019     Finished left side gear leg - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

I bought a 1/4 rachet extension to reach the outboard nuts on the gear leg. Properly torqued. Done.

  Dec 29, 2018     Landing gear work - (4 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Been working in fits and starts -- mostly fits -- during the month. Got the right side landing gear put on and am working on the left side. Took a bit of work to find proper torque values for the various bolts.

Haven't done a lot of work, though, it's been too cold, the holidays, and I'm doing a lot of Lyft driving to try to pay down the hangar loan before retirement.

I did finally find a long #3 phillips screwdriver to handle the four screws on the landing gear doubler plate, by the way.