Installing nose gear fairing

I'm getting around to finally installing the leg fairings on the 7A. I've already fit the main gear fairings; I just haven't made provisions for attaching the the intersection fairings yet.

I'm probably going to have to mold the intersection fairing for the nose gear myself, but in the meantime, I'm clamping the bottom of it to the leg as indicated in the instructions, laying up a couple of layers of 10 oz. cloth on the inside of the bottom of the fairing.

A couple of questions:

-1- What's the secret to keeping the worm clamp from slipping down and off the fairing?

-2- Is there nothing to clamp the top to a fairing? Is it just held in place by the intersection fairing? What's to prevent the fairing from chafing against the leg? I guess that question goes to the main fairings too.

Harumph. Crickets.

Maybe I should'e worked in something about the future of EAA into that message somehow.

Gear leg

Bob
I wrapped the beak of the nose gear fairing with silicone tape then applied the hose clamp overtop. I dont have many hours but it hasn't slipped yet.

No intersection fairings yet, so the upper end of the NG fairing is just floating in the wind.

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

I'm getting around to finally installing the leg fairings on the 7A. I've already fit the main gear fairings; I just haven't made provisions for attaching the the intersection fairings yet.

I'm probably going to have to mold the intersection fairing for the nose gear myself, but in the meantime, I'm clamping the bottom of it to the leg as indicated in the instructions, laying up a couple of layers of 10 oz. cloth on the inside of the bottom of the fairing.

A couple of questions:

-1- What's the secret to keeping the worm clamp from slipping down and off the fairing?

-2- Is there nothing to clamp the top to a fairing? Is it just held in place by the intersection fairing? What's to prevent the fairing from chafing against the leg? I guess that question goes to the main fairings too.

Click to expand...

1) Friction. I laid up some flox to give a nice tight fit under the clamp.

2) Nope. Yep (and/or cowl). I haven't run into any issues with chafing on the nose leg fairing ( there's quite a bit of clearance) but I have seen some wear on the mains, still contemplating my fix for those.

Paige

Btw, some of us have day jobs with firewalls

Beancounter said:

Bob
No intersection fairings yet, so the upper end of the NG fairing is just floating in the wind.

Click to expand...

You can do that?

I started with the nose gear leg fairing fitting and clamping at the bottom of the gear leg, then arch grinding to follow the contour of the nose wheel pant.

At the upper end, I left the hinge pin long so that it would slide into a drilled hole in the U-620B lower cowl brace. Latter, I added a nutplate in this area to act as a chafe guard so the SS pin would not wallow out the locator hole.

Lastly, I prosealed in a very short length of a rubber hose that would fit inside the leading edge of the gear leg fairing. This was placed high up inside the fairing to act as a soft bearing surface to (hopefully) prevent the wind loads from flexing the fiberglass of the fairing.

The above was all done prior to installing the upper intersection fairing for the nose gear leg. Now that I have the fairing installed, I believe this upper fairing eliminates the need for all of the work I previously did.

Left a response yesterday crickets must have ate it

I'm in a motel in Coeur D'Alene, ID so this wireless connect may not hold up either. Bought main strut fairings from Tracy Saylor and his instructions said to fill the ends with foaming adhesive. I applied this method to the NLG strut fairing bought from Van's (inaddition to the clamp) and it has held up well over the past 8 years of flying plus the time they were on before completion.

The MLG fairings also have an inverted "T" riveted to the inside of the fairing that is ckamped to the strut.

Bob Axsom

I did not do anything special for my NG fairing. The lower end is held with the clamp. Upper end is held in place by the homemade intersection fairing. There are four screws held intersection fairing to the lower cowl. During landing NG flex a lot. After six years and 1050 hrs everything is fine.

Nose gear fairing

Bob,
When I installed my nose gear fairing I cut a small square of the blue foam and used packing tape to tape it to the top of the gear leg. This both locates the fairing so it is in the thickest part of its chord and provides some chafe protection. Also for what its worth, the nose gear upper intersection fairing from Fairings ETC fits perfectly, is easy to install, will save you tons of time and will cover the entire slot cut into the lower cowling. Take care Tim

Bob,
The most important part is the upper.
Used fairings inc for my upper.

The fairing cannot move side to side after completed.
You will and can feel the vibrations if not secure at the top.
use plenty of nutplates at the top end.
Hope it helps.

Bob,

As someone else said, I used flox to form a ridge on the front bottom end of the leg fairing, but I did not use a clamp. I use heavy duty tie wraps, which I cut if I need to remove the leg fairing. Has worked well for five plus years. I have a fairing at the top, so didn't need anything there, although there is some wear between the upper fairing and leg fairing. You have some good responses on the upper end of the leg fairing, take your pick!

Bob

Upper Nose Gear Fairing

This is probably a slow response given four months have trickled by since the last post.

I fabricated my own upper intersection fairing. It camlocs into the exhaust cowl section of the lower fairing. Another plate camlocs behind that plate giving the intersection fairing rear shape. This plate, being quite solid, removes the need (IMHO) for any other bracing of this section of the cowl. I have about 70 hours on the airframe now with no evidence of cracking or other damage due to the lack of a support bracket. In other words, the rigid plate behind the gear leg seems to do the job of bracing the exhaust section of the lower cowl. there's an image attached here that shows the gear leg and fairing during fabrication. The rear four camlocs belong to the rear plate and is being built up with microballoons for sanding in this image.