Seat belt attachments...

I know that Vans has an almost cult like fanatical religious following and it's taboo to say anything negative about Vans, but in all honesty, I feel that a lot of the steel parts in my kit are poorly made. I don't think I've received one steel part that actually fits as it's suppose to. Very frustrating.

Did you guys have the following issue with the seat belt attach brackets?

With both brackets sitting flush on the bar stock on the bottom of the F-705 bulkhead, the holes don't even come close to aligning...



If I put a bolt through the hole (that the seat belt would attach to) then the bottom of one bracket doesn't even touch the spar...



Every single pair of these is like this. If I bolt the brackets to the bar as is, then the bolt at the top for the seat belt will never go through the hole.

I'll send the same pics to Vans, but I figured that these brackets are made on a machine so everyone of them should be the same. I can't be the only one to have so many parts that don't fit...right??

I tried matching a few of the left brackets with different right brackets until I came up with pairs that matched the best. Still not perfect, but workable. Then just be sure to label them.

I suppose you could fabricate a spacer as well to help align them (with Vans approval of course...)

Chris

I don't recall having that issue on the seat belt mounts. Don't get me started on the bell cranks, though.

Just because it is powder coated doesn't mean it is inviolate. Bend it until you like it and move on. The only place the flange needs to fit the spar is where the bolt is. The rest of the flange sitting on the spar does zip for strength when a tension load is put on the belt.

The easier solution may be to make an aluminum shim the same size as the lower flange.

If needed, use the next length longer bolt.

I feel like an old salty saying this but...

Just build on this wont cause your wing to fall off.

"Build on" is simple advice, but one can not build on when there is no way to attach these brackets.

If I line up the holes, the bottom of the other bracket does not touch the spar. If that was the only case, then yes I suppose I could use these poor quality parts and "build on". But the bottom of the bracket not only doesn't reach to the spar, but it is at an angle to it. So there is no way to put a shim under there.

When manufactured, the left ones were not bent at the same angle as the right ones. There is no way to re-bend the angle so no amount of re-bending on my part will make them fit.

I've sent an e-mail to Vans this morning so I'll see what they say. I've asked them to go grab a few brackets off the shelf and see if they fit like mine do.

You say "they're all like this." So all the ones on the left are shorter than the ones on the right?

s10sakota said:

"Build on" is simple advice, but one can not build on when there is no way to attach these brackets.

If I line up the holes, the bottom of the other bracket does not touch the spar. If that was the only case, then yes I suppose I could use these poor quality parts and "build on". But the bottom of the bracket not only doesn't reach to the spar, but it is at an angle to it. So there is no way to put a shim under there.

When manufactured, the left ones were not bent at the same angle as the right ones. There is no way to re-bend the angle so no amount of re-bending on my part will make them fit.

I've sent an e-mail to Vans this morning so I'll see what they say. I've asked them to go grab a few brackets off the shelf and see if they fit like mine do.

Click to expand...

Make your own, make existing fit, check with Van's about a replacement. Is there any other course of action?? Based on the pic, I'd shim it and move on.

These kits have improved immensely over the last 10-15 yrs. But they're still kits. You'll need to look at a production plane if you don't want to have to deal with this type of thing.

Sometimes it is a matter of adjustment. You don't really say if the feet are square, I would simply mount and lean the tops until the holes line up, It won't be much. If that works, it means that the feet just might not be square.

Some day you might take apart a car, like the fenders, doors, etc. Now, they all fit nicely when they were removed, but I can guarantee that they won't fit when you reassemble. Were they all bad? No, a lot is technique of assembly.

Final comment - and yes, sometimes they are just made wrong.

Process control is not one of Van's strengths (yet). They do seem to be improving. When they are perfect, will a kit cost the same as a "production" airplane?

half solution!

Working with the brackets today, I got two sets of them installed acceptable.

By moving the left one (left in the pic) up slightly, I could get the bolt at the top to go in almost 90 degrees to the hole; enough that I'll have no problem getting the bolt in and out to attach the seat belts.



However, no matter what I do to the other two sets, they don't fit.

Here's what I'm talking about-if I put the base of the bracket flat on the spar, you can see that the bolt goes in crooked. I don't believe this is acceptable...



On the other hand, if I put the bolt through the hole in the top, then the bottom of the bracket is slightly short, and as you can see, not parallel to the spar...



If I press down on the bottom of the bracket to make it sit on the spar, then the hole goes so far off at the top that the bolt won't go in.

I think I'll ask Vans to replace these two sets. If they won't, then I'll just order two more.

Two out of four done

In my opinion you could just shim that with a washer. It's not going to make a jot of difference to the strength of the installation.

BillL said:

Sometimes it is a matter of adjustment. You don't really say if the feet are square, I would simply mount and lean the tops until the holes line up, It won't be much. If that works, it means that the feet just might not be square.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Bend them until they work. Mine were not the same left and right either. I made them work as plenty of other builders have. The pictured part can be put in a soft jawed vice and bent such that one end of the bend radius is opened a little such that the bolted surface will sit flat. You know which way to go in the images. Put the short end in the vice and pull on the long end. Check it and redo it until it lines up with the other bracket.

In building your RV you will find that all the parts need something done to them before use. It just varies on how much.

My old bracket was pre powder coating. Had to do a fair bit of tweaking to get the seat belt holes to line up. Short legs in the vice (soft jaws) then gentle .. Hitting it with a mallet ... I suppose it is worse for parts that have been powder costed as you might end up cracking the paint ..