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Floor vibration

Soarandtow

Active Member
Forty plus hours and now very comfortable with my 9. BUT I have a floor vib at higher rpm 2300 and up. It's ok with feet on the floor but if you lift them both up you can hear and feel the vib. Note I have balanced my prop at max static rpm on the ground at 2300 down to .02 IPS which is very good for a fix pitch recip
Prop sensenich aluminum Engine Lycoming 0320
Just wanted to know if anyone else has had the floor vib
 
Not sure how bad your vibe is but seems to be consistent with every RV I've flown in.

You can add foam underneath your carpet, that helps. There is a special type of foam for this (Classic Aero adds it to their carpet) but not sure what it's called.
 
Very common.

You can try various things to dampen it. Report what works!

When I'm the passenger in my friend's RV-6, I like to put my foot on and off the floor rhythmically until my friend says "STOP THAT!" :p
 
My solutions

I put in a floor 3/4 inch higher by riveting angles to original floor stiffners and putting a new floor on top (R/L sides) and elevator type stiffners to hold the strength. Also raised the rudder pedals 3/4 inch. I put foam between the 2 floors. No vibration or heat from the exhaust. Also did 1/8" rivets on the .040 floor to stiffners. No working rivets after 1300 hours.

Steve
 
I'm very happy with my carpet from Classic Aero. No vibrations from the floor ever. Closed cell foam pads Velcro to the floor between the stiffeners, and the carpet Velcros to the foam.

Cheers, David
RV-6A - KBTF
 
Not sure how bad your vibe is but seems to be consistent with every RV I've flown in.

You can add foam underneath your carpet, that helps. There is a special type of foam for this (Classic Aero adds it to their carpet) but not sure what it's called.

A yes carpet and foam I will try a bet of bothThanks
 
We ave some vibration in our 7A and have straight exhaust pipes. My friend has a 6A with downturned pipes and no vibration. I’m not sure if that is the reason his is smoother.
 
I agree with Ralph, check the angle your tail pipes make with the floor. It is important the exhaust pulses do not hit the floor. Vetterman has some advice somewhere, I believe the pipes need to point away by at least 25*. I had the same problem some years ago because the original builder had cut the tail pipes down. Once restored to their original length, and angled appropriately, the floor vibration disappeared.

I have flown for 5 hours with no problems, before the surgery after 45 minutes my feet were numb.

Pete
 
I put in a floor 3/4 inch higher by riveting angles to original floor stiffners and putting a new floor on top (R/L sides) and elevator type stiffners to hold the strength. Also raised the rudder pedals 3/4 inch. I put foam between the 2 floors. No vibration or heat from the exhaust. Also did 1/8" rivets on the .040 floor to stiffners. No working rivets after 1300 hours.

Steve

I have 1/4? lite plywood ?floor boards? installed over the stiffeners with fiberglass (sealed in plastic) insulation between the floorboards and skin. Excellent thermally and acoustically. Probably weighs no more than carpet.

I did not plan ahead and raise the rudder pedals however, so my lower pedal bars are a bit close to the floorboards for my big feet.

All in all a very satisfactory setup, but I wish I had the foresight to have raised the pedals too.

Peter
 
I put some insulating foam rubber directly on the floor between the stiffeners and some wood flooring material on top of the foam. I got the idea from looking at an RV4 at a local airshow. My feet slide easily on the floor when I get in and there is little vibration in flight. Looks cool too IMHO.:cool:
 
I have a Vetterman trombone exhaust on an IO390. With the original install (then on a Superior XP400), I had noticeable ?drumming? on the floor panels. Carpet with foam helped a lot as others have suggested. Clint at Vetterman provided short angled pipe extensions (~6?) with a slight bend - maybe 30-45? that deflected the exhaust downward. This improved drumming further, and I ultimately trimmed the extension just aft of the downturn to be almost parallel with the airflow.
 
Sandwiching foam or fiberglass under a plywood or aluminum floorboard is an iffy deal. One obvious item is trapped water, and wrapping the insulation in plastic won't help.

Insulating the inside of the belly skin will cause it to melt more quickly in the event of an engine fire. It will also generate a lot of smoke in the cabin.

The plywood itself is a pretty good insulator. If you want a floorboard, I'd suggest finished ply with nothing in the space below. If you wish to damp the belly skin, place a few dollops of intumescent silicone in the panel centers before installing the plywood.
 
1) A slightly ribbed ( bend lines fore and aft direction) SS floorboard skin / fire protection skin

2) Angled exhaust tips that are drilled like a fish filter intake screen on a water intake suction line will soften the pulses before they reach your floor boards.
 
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