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James wheel pants ? heads up ?

L

Larry DeCamp

Well Known Member
Fitting the wheel pants on my RV4 with Desser 500x5 retreads. Full disclosure, Sam has been helpfull in a couple phone cons and nothing negative here.
The outboard + for the axle bolt was too high on the front glass half. It must be lower for tire clearance on the fairing. The .125 brackets ( pattern in instructions ) did not work for me so I made customs from .063 similar to Vans. Hope this saves someone grief 😊
 
Larry DeCamp said:
Fitting the wheel pants on my RV4 with Desser 500x5 retreads. Full disclosure, Sam has been helpfull in a couple phone cons and nothing negative here.
The outboard + for the axle bolt was too high on the front glass half. It must be lower for tire clearance on the fairing. The .125 brackets ( pattern in instructions ) did not work for me so I made customs from .063 similar to Vans. Hope this saves someone grief 😊
Click to expand...

Making per plans is difficult to bend at home. The Vans brackets will save weight too, good move, wish I had done that, (and might yet). Good to hear Sam was helpful.
 
edit: see correction in later post.


Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie
 
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rv7charlie said:
Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie
Click to expand...

Charlie, did you make your stainless bracket the same shape as the SJ plans?
 
rv7charlie said:
Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie
Click to expand...

Mine are out of .080, and were built per Sam's sketches. No problems after 1100 hours.
 
My bad; I should have been clearer, & I mis-read the posts. I thought the OP was using or copying Van's original brackets for the original wheel pants. I have the original pants, & replaced the original brackets with stainless copies. I used some stainless I had on hand; it's probably around 0.060" thick.

Sorry for the confusion,

Charlie
 
Clarification & detail on 063

Comforting to hear I am not the only one with issues. Regarding strength, I should clarify I laminated two layers of 063 AL around the axle bracket with 3M 2216 and rivets. The longer 063 piece extends out for 8-32 nut plates to support the glass pants. The laminated .125 area has some lightening holes. If we dont get 1,000 hours I will replace with SS 😏
 
Surface prep

Thanks Charlie.
I just used the 2216 to hold the parts together for fab AND fill voids from future potential corrosion. The 1/8" rivets do the heavy lifting. I just scuff and clean with acetone for my level of expectations.
Larry
 
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