Finish kit advice

I found some similar questions a few years old. Thought I'd ask again and get some fresh thoughts. I'm about to order the finish kit for my RV10. So far I'm planning to upgrade:

door struts
nose wheel assembly
brakes
door seals
tires

These items seem to be pretty popular upgrades. One thing I don't know is if the stock items in the finish kit have changed recently making some of these upgrades no longer necessary. Any thoughts appreciated.

I switched out the nosewheel for the Beringer (which I may regret someday when it's time to replace the tire), and asked them to ship the rear seat foam with the kit because I did my own upholstery. The door struts are stock (recent thread about those). Later I purchased the wheel and brake set from Matco, so ended up shipping the kit included ones back for a refund - restocking fee, but am using the included tires; I also ended up getting different tubes so the nozzle was accessible (Desser EZ fit with a 76 degree nozzle). With the wheel set I ordered their axle nuts with an oval slot, and subsequently ended up fabbing my own wheel pant extensions as their nut is threaded 3/8 x 16. Separately I ordered the PlaneAround fairing bracket spacers and 180 latch kit. Finally, I also opted to do the McMaster Carr door seal trick but didn't have Van's door seal removed from the kit. Order was placed back in Feb, and I'm getting ready to hang the engine. Sounds pretty much like what you're considering, and I won't know if I shoulda done something different til I'm flying, but I'm happy so far...

==dave==

Unless you plan on finishing the door with some really heavy material, keep the original struts, they will work just fine. The only other additional suggestion I have is regarding the tires. I had the wheel shimmy/vibration problem that I really did not want to fix using the wooden stiffeners. At the suggestion of someone on the forum, I replace the mains with dresser re-treads and I replaced the nose wheel tire with a Goodyear flight custom 2-groove tire. I run 45 PSI, and no longer have the shimmy issue. Also the tubes should be replaced as suggested above for easier access to fill.

Unless you plan on finishing the door with some really heavy material, keep the original struts, they will work just fine.

Click to expand...

plus 1 for the stock door struts.
I have some pretty fancy door upholstery and close out rings for the windows,
Currently doing my 3rd annual and just now needed to replace a tired stock door strut on the pilot's side.

Brakes and tires stock, no problems.

Nose wheel: Matco axle only and stock tire and wheel.
I have had no shimmy problems and the nose tire seems to never need any air.
I keep it around 45PSI.

I made no changes to the finish kit but installed the McMaster door seal
and bought the Matco axle.

I also bought aftermarket wheel pant extensions.

If you wanted to drop these items from the finish kit I doubt it would amount to much more than $10.-

+1. These kit parts are so cheap I wouldn't both deleting them, but definitely get the Plane around solid spacer for the inner wheel fairing brackets, and make or buy a heavy duty (larger diameter) stand off for the outer wheel fairing support posts.

Thanks

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

BigD said:

I switched out the nosewheel for the Beringer (which I may regret someday when it's time to replace the tire),
==dave==

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Does the axle issue still exist with the Beringer nose wheel? Did you still need to get the matco axle? Any why might you regret changing out this tire, if you don't mind me asking?

the nosewheel comes with its own axle (which looks pretty nice, even though I've never seen the stock one) so that's not a problem. My comment about regret is that beringer wants you to use their $$ tool for mounting a new tire, see here - http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/tirechanging.php?clickkey=38763
Of course, I've almost never met a tool I didn't like, so I shouldn't complain, and I'm pretty sure nosewheels wear out slower than mains. I like the way it looks, even though it'll be hidden under the fairing, and we'll see how it works out. Haven't read any complaints on here yet...

==dave==
N102FM

Are the main's in the finish kit? I am about to order my finish kit and see the following:

Qty 1 Grove Whl&Brk 6X6.00 (is this a kit of 2?) Based on the size of the main tires in the description I assume this is the main gear?

What are the part numbers you remove for the front assembly to replace with Matco?

Anyone replace the main gear/brakes as well with something different?

Thanks in advance.

E

My finish kit is scheduled for delivery in a couple weeks. I replaced the front wheel with the Berringer supplied by Van's. I also replaced the main wheels/brakes with the Matco wheel/brake kit. Check out the matco web page for their RV10 wheel/brake kit.

ethand said:

Are the main's in the finish kit? I am about to order my finish kit and see the following:

Qty 1 Grove Whl&Brk 6X6.00 (is this a kit of 2?) Based on the size of the main tires in the description I assume this is the main gear?

What are the part numbers you remove for the front assembly to replace with Matco?

Anyone replace the main gear/brakes as well with something different?

Thanks in advance.

E

Click to expand...

Yes they are in the finish kit and the 6X6.00's are the mains. I went with the stock mains and brakes, but deleted the nose wheel. I replaced it with a MATCO WHLNW511.25 nose wheel (designed for the 5X5.00 tire) and WHLAXLE24 Axel assembly.

ethand,

As Todd said, the 6" wheels are the mains for an RV-10. If interested in saving some $, I have a set that are new but never installed and I've decided to use the upgraded Matco wheels/brakes instead. Van's sells these for $970, you can buy mine for $550 for the set and I'll pay shipping. If you aren't interested I'll post in the VAF classifieds. These have had tubes/tires installed until I got the Matco setup but were never installed on the plane.

Bob

Thanks for the replies and the offer Bob.

I am planning on the Matco as well but appreciate the offer and hope you get what you want for the wheels and brakes.

E