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What?s a good distance to have on a wheel pant.

R

ron sterba

Well Known Member
Have a ?A? model and was wondering what is a good clearance distance to cut between the main wheel pant and the tire? Sides and front and rear of the tire to wheel pant? Did anybody ever balance front or rear wheel pant?
Thanks RON in Oregon
 
"A finger's width" is the common answer. So 1/2-5/8" all around. Don't leave it tight or you'll see evidence of scrubbing when you drop it in harder than normal.

I balanced my wheelpants, but that was the thing to do 20 years ago. I can't tell you if it made a difference, because I never flew the airplane with "unbalanced" wheel pants. On the -10, I'm not going to add the weight unless I have a shimmy problem
 
Thanks Kyle, I’ll wait too. Not hard to do. Did use steel pellets in a slurry of epoxy and then cover it with a epoxy/cloth. I have heard pilots say there goes the wheel pant again, meaning it’s in the shimming mode.
Ron
 
Do you mean balance the wheels/tires ? Or balance the wheel pants? What?s the point of that. Just to see if they weight the same?
 
I did take my tires to a tire shop to be checked for balance when new but none of the three tires needed it. As for the front wheel pant when it vibrates iam told that it’s the up and down motion of the rear half section similar in as of a fly fishing line, bigger the loop or bigger the oscillating but it’s short lived. I read in Vans book “26 years of RVs” page 174 I believe it talked about balancing the front wheel pant. Since I am a novice here Iam open to real time experience. Ron in Oregon
 
ron sterba said:
Thanks Kyle, I?ll wait too. Not hard to do. Did use steel pellets in a slurry of epoxy and then cover it with a epoxy/cloth. I have heard pilots say there goes the wheel pant again, meaning it?s in the shimming mode.
Ron
Click to expand...

I think I had some lead shot I put in the nose of the wheelpant and encapsulated in epoxy. Then I think I laid a layer of cloth over it.
 
ron sterba said:
Kyle, did you ever have the problem after that balance mod in the front wheel pant?
Ron
Click to expand...

Ron, mine's a -6 (little wheel on the back) and I balanced the main gear pants before the first flight.

I still had shimmy, until I figured out what tire pressures to use. Mid-upper 30's on the mains for me, but your mileage may vary. That's why I didn't balance the pants on the (unflown) -10, because I can always do it later if air pressure doesn't resolve any problems.
 
Balancing wheel pants?

This is the first that I have heard of "balancing a wheel pant". Is this something that is in the Vans instructions? If it is, I need to reread the instructions to make sure that I did not miss any other items.
 
Paul in the Rv book by vans. Called 27 years is a collection of builders letters and pictures sent to Vans aircraft company and I believe it’s on page 174. That’s what one builder used to stop his oscillating front wheel pant. Now because of the development in today’s technology and the owner of this website that book publishing stopped I believe. I want to say the book is about 300 plus pages. Very well done tech book because there are comments from Vans engineers along with builders comments. You can learn a lot from the book. Call Vans and ask if they still sell the book. Ron in Oregon
 
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