Fitting the Tail Wheel Spring Mount

Hi all,

I am building a pre-punch 8. Drawing 73 is of the tail wheel parts. The instructions say to draw a line where the top of the spring mount goes on the forward face of the 812 bulkhead. There are three AN4 bolts that hold the spring mount to the bulkhead, and, it looks like, also the vertical stabilizer. A note on the plans says that there should be 7/8 vertical distance between these bolts, but that all really looks wrong. Also, they say to carefully watch the edge distance on the spring mount and the VS spar.

The spring mount has a welding bead around the pipe portion that nestles nicely into the cutout in the bottom of F 812. That would put about 1/8 to 3/16 distance from the pipe part (that holds the spring) to the bulkhead.

The question is, is that correct? The mount has no holes in it. The bulkhead has one centerline hole that is about 3/16s that I think you drill out to 1/4 for the bottom bolt. I am really puzzled about where to site the mount and where to drill the other two holes. The positioning on F-811, just in front, is pretty clear.

Anyone been here?

Regards,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Fuselage (Prepunch)
San Ramon, CA

mlwynn said:

....There are three AN4 bolts that hold the spring mount to the bulkhead, and, it looks like, also the vertical stabilizer........The spring mount has a welding bead around the pipe portion that nestles nicely into the cutout in the bottom of F 812. That would put about 1/8 to 3/16 distance from the pipe part (that holds the spring) to the bulkhead.

Click to expand...

Mike,

I drilled those bolt holes yesterday. The clecos are in the two upper holes. The measurements called out in the plans are accurate. You won't drill those 3 bolt holes until you hang the vertical stab when they are layed out and drilled through it. Here are a couple of detail photos for illustration. The pictures were taken prior to final reaming to .2500. Refer to View A-A DWG 73.

Spring Mount

Thanks Rick,

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I heard back from Van's. They said the following:


"There was a revision on DWG 73 that changed the 7/8" dimension to 1
23/32".

The keeper rivets drive the placement of the WD-409. Place the WD so that
the keeper rivets are 1 11/32" below the top of the WD."

Bruce Reynolds
[email protected]

Between that and your letter, I have this pegged.

Thanks

Michael Wynn
RV 8
San Ramon

Thanks guys!

Hi guys,

this thread and some head scratching eventually got me sorted. The plans and instructions are definitely not very clear, especially when there has been a drawing revision that you don't know about. This really shows the value of these forums.

I've got some pics in my kitlog showing the dimensions and the drawing revision. Hope that helps someone else.

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=jpreou&project=45&category=0&log=35967&row=2

Thanks again.

Tailspring mounts

Although you guys seem to have this pegged, I might be able to add a cent or two, since I`ve done this twice to the same machine. I don`t know if the weldments come drilled to the spring from Van now, but when I built mine, they didn`t. Of course you want to have your tail wheel steering axis nice and vertical (plumb) so drilling the weldment to the spring is pretty critical. I did this after I installed the weldment in the tail, and it came out a little off. Not good! After the tailwheel fender-bender I experienced, I got to do it over with new parts. I got smart the second time around and took the weldment and spring to a machine shop and had it drilled level and true with the world on a milling machine. Then I clamped the whole thing in place in the tail and drilled the weldment to the bulkhead. Of course everybody else probably knows to do this already, so call me a slow learner. At least I`ve got nice true tailwheel alignment now. Speaking of "now", if I could only get Doug Bell to sell me one of his Totally Kool tailwheel forks, I`d really be happy.........Dave Brand N254LF

mlwynn said:

Thanks Rick,

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I heard back from Van's. They said the following:


"There was a revision on DWG 73 that changed the 7/8" dimension to 1
23/32".

The keeper rivets drive the placement of the WD-409. Place the WD so that
the keeper rivets are 1 11/32" below the top of the WD."

Bruce Reynolds
[email protected]

Between that and your letter, I have this pegged.

Thanks

Michael Wynn
RV 8
San Ramon

Click to expand...

It's amazing that this is a know error but hasn't been corrected yet. I bought my fuselage kit about two years ago and it still hasn't been fixed. Thanks to the forum for helping me figure this one out!