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29-03: shimming U-01402

Aluminum

Well Known Member
Curious if anyone else needed to shim aft of the U-01402 Lower Gear Brace. When I final-torque the brace to the spar carry-through (AN6-46A) I can insert 0.020" of shim on the opposite side. If I torque away this gap (AN5-10A) to the Aft Gear Brace Assembly it results in slight pillowing of the bottom skin. I'm worried that the built-in stress will cause something to crack sooner rather than later if I don't shim it so it's snug when relaxed.

2h7gql0.jpg
 
Greetings,

Please be careful when "torqueing away" any gap on your aircraft. Over torqueing can get you into a bad place.

Thinking through some possibilities:
  • Consider measuring both your braces. Are they the same length?
  • The gear brace is the same part on both sides. Does the gap go away when you swap them (if you already placed the fitting on the other brace, you'll of course have to remove it to test)?
  • Is the aft gear brace assembly (from 26-13) straight (I suspect this wouldn't be the issue)?
For what it's worth, I had the opposite experience: I had to gently sand mine down to get them to fit without resorting to force. That suggests that fitment might vary among kits due to builder and manufacturing tolerances.

Also, it's hard to tell from the picture for sure, but it looks like your AD4-size rivets might be a little overdriven. That's unrelated to your issue, but something to doublecheck for future rivets.

 
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