I just completed the horizontal stab SB on my RV-6 that was completed in 2001. It currently has 1170 hrs on it. I am not the builder.
Inspection found a crack starting at each of the upper relief notches. The bottoms notches did not show any cracks. I ordered the SB kit from Vans on 2-3-14 and received it a couple weeks later. I kept a log of my time as I thought it might be of interest to others contemplating the installation.
Removing the tail took about two hours twenty minutes by myself. I would recommend having someone help remove the elevators as they are a little tough to handle solo.
Removing the rivets took me about six hours. I then spent about an hour stripping the paint (overspray in my case) from all the parts (ribs and angles).
Shaping the upper spar angle, cutting the rib flanges off, and cutting the doublers apart took about one hour and forty five minutes.
I made another fixture to hold the stab and trimmed the bent up spar flanges (top and bottom) which took about four hours.
Fitting the doublers and drilling took about three hours. Be careful on this step. Make sure you spot all the existing holes and do your best to even out the edge distances from the edges of the doublers and the existing rivet holes. It is tight!
I deburred and prepped and primed parts using Mar Hyde, another two hours.
More stripping of paint and priming of the spar webs and stab internals took another hour and a half.
Riveted all the center section rivets that I could reach with my squeezer, another hour and a half.
Riveted all of the outer "finger" rivets using an short offset rivet set. My friend Rob helped me on this. Two man hours.
Fit the new main rib flanges. This was tedious and ate up about three more hours including priming the main ribs and new angle flanges.
Final riveting of the ribs, again Rob helped, one man hour.
Used my hand squeezer to set the remaining #3 rivets in the main and nose ribs. This took about forty five minutes.
DONE - All told it took a little over twenty eight man hours to remove the tail and to perform the SB installation.
Following that it took me about eight hours to reinstall the tail. Slow probably, but cautious and safe!
After the ribs were removed the extent of the cracks could be seen. On the right hand side the crack had made it to the first rivet hole. On the LH side it had not and I stop drilled it per the SB the pictures below show the cracks in the webs.
Here are some additional photos of the completed stab installed on the plane again.
Inspection found a crack starting at each of the upper relief notches. The bottoms notches did not show any cracks. I ordered the SB kit from Vans on 2-3-14 and received it a couple weeks later. I kept a log of my time as I thought it might be of interest to others contemplating the installation.
Removing the tail took about two hours twenty minutes by myself. I would recommend having someone help remove the elevators as they are a little tough to handle solo.
Removing the rivets took me about six hours. I then spent about an hour stripping the paint (overspray in my case) from all the parts (ribs and angles).
Shaping the upper spar angle, cutting the rib flanges off, and cutting the doublers apart took about one hour and forty five minutes.
I made another fixture to hold the stab and trimmed the bent up spar flanges (top and bottom) which took about four hours.
Fitting the doublers and drilling took about three hours. Be careful on this step. Make sure you spot all the existing holes and do your best to even out the edge distances from the edges of the doublers and the existing rivet holes. It is tight!
I deburred and prepped and primed parts using Mar Hyde, another two hours.
More stripping of paint and priming of the spar webs and stab internals took another hour and a half.
Riveted all the center section rivets that I could reach with my squeezer, another hour and a half.
Riveted all of the outer "finger" rivets using an short offset rivet set. My friend Rob helped me on this. Two man hours.
Fit the new main rib flanges. This was tedious and ate up about three more hours including priming the main ribs and new angle flanges.
Final riveting of the ribs, again Rob helped, one man hour.
Used my hand squeezer to set the remaining #3 rivets in the main and nose ribs. This took about forty five minutes.
DONE - All told it took a little over twenty eight man hours to remove the tail and to perform the SB installation.
Following that it took me about eight hours to reinstall the tail. Slow probably, but cautious and safe!
After the ribs were removed the extent of the cracks could be seen. On the right hand side the crack had made it to the first rivet hole. On the LH side it had not and I stop drilled it per the SB the pictures below show the cracks in the webs.
Here are some additional photos of the completed stab installed on the plane again.
