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Steps

findane

Active Member
I have read several post regarding the problems with the Vans's steps. I'm at the point where I have to decide whether to install them or not. Does anyone have a set of installation plans for the Van's steps?

I thought I would make an inspection plate in the baggage floor so I could add them later if needed. Plus if I do install them later it would be useful in case of I need to repair them.
 
Step installation

I just installed them in my -7 and if you can do it now I would.

The install requires the baggage floor be removed or in my case I used a bungee to hold it out of the way.

Many say it is easy, it wasn't hard but I found it time consuming. nearly four hours go to whoa.

I was under the impression the newer Vans step came already with the reinforced welding. Mine appear to have a reinforced area and were ordered a year ago.

Dave
 
Here are the installation instructions https://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/step_instructions.pdf

See this thread http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=134249

The steps had an issue with cracking. You can send yours to Russ, who manufactures them for Vans, and he will weld a reinforcement on to them to help prevent this issue. I would do this now before installation because otherwise you will almost surely have a cracking issue later. My right side step had started to crack before first flight! For now I am just watching to see if the crack gets bigger.

If you have the reinforcement done you should hopefully never need to remove them later, negating the need for inspection holes. Nothing wrong with removable baggage floor or inspection hole, just one more thing that adds time and complexity to the build.

I would certainly install them if for no other reason that they help reduce the chances of a foot landing on a flap.

Chris
 
Thanks to all for the information and the installation plans. From an earlier post I received the information on reinforcing the steps from Russ McCutcheon.

I am curious if anyone has not installed steps and how it's working. I was thinking of a small light weight step stool tethered to a line that one could retrieve once on the wing and stow in the baggage area.
 
I used nut plates and screws to secure the floor of the baggage area.
My brother's was built using pop rivets.
We both had to remove the baggage floor to repair our steps.
Guess who had the most difficult time?

Why nut plates and screws? An AME came by one day just before I started work and opined that "Some day I'd have to get into that area and screws would make the job a lot easier". He was right.

John
 
After having to remove and reinstall my steps to get them reinforced, I can tell you the hard part is not drilling out the pop rivets. The hard part is getting the floors riveted back in place. Some of the nutplates that hold in the center tunnel section cover are really hard to get a squeezer on. Particularly the nutplates that secure the plastic block in the center of the flap weldment.
 
I am curious if anyone has not installed steps and how it's working. I was thinking of a small light weight step stool tethered to a line that one could retrieve once on the wing and stow in the baggage area.

Peter,
I have only one step installed on the pilot side but I often enter from the right if I have a human autopilot in the left seat. You are a sporty young man it's easy to jump to the cockpit without using steps. If I can do it anybody can.I would not experiment with any step stool to retrieve. During extraction it's easy to catch on a flap.
 
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