Attaching upper gear leg fairings

Does anybody have an easy and secure way to attach the upper gear leg fairings?

good question...

I was just getting ready to ask the same question before bothering the folks at Vans.

My -9 dwg shows two plate nuts attached to the lower cowl for, I assume, attaching the upper nose gear leg intersection fairing.

Can't find anything about the mains.

Crazy glue?

I bet somebody here knows...

Dave
-9A FWF kit

A few builders have used hidden springs to hold the fairings into place. Very slick but I'm not that clever.

I'm sure there are any number of way of approaching the problem. At the time, I could not find much info on the subject either so this is what I ended up doing. Fairings-Etc. recommended the super simple technique of merely using self tapping sheet metal screws. In this case, I took advantage of the removable access plate and installed one nutplate. That ties into a machine screw through the forward end of the intersection fairing. On the aft end of the fairing, I used either 1 or 2 (I cannot immediately recall) self-tapping sheet metal screws through the fairing and into the fuselage bottom. Because the attach screws are located underneath the fuselage, the fastening method is not readily apparent to the casual viewer.

believe it, I drilled the holes and just threw in pop rivets. 240hrs later, still holding strong. I figured for the inspection, I'll just remove the top screws in the fairings for the wing roots. It's just an inspection right, I'll have the top off but keep the bottom on, no need to remove the rivets for the gear fairings. I have an A model.

Oh and nobody knows about them until now, because you need to get down and look for them. Same goes for the guck under the belly, who's going to see that either. Just me.

Rick6a said:

A few builders have used hidden springs to hold the fairings into place. Very slick but I'm not that clever.

I'm sure there are any number of way of approaching the problem. At the time, I could not find much info on the subject either so this is what I ended up doing. Fairings-Etc. recommended the super simple technique of merely using self tapping sheet metal screws. In this case, I took advantage of the removable access plate and installed one nutplate. That ties into a machine screw through the forward end of the intersection fairing. On the aft end of the fairing, I used either 1 or 2 (I cannot immediately recall) self-tapping sheet metal screws through the fairing and into the fuselage bottom. Because the attach screws are located underneath the fuselage, the fastening method is not readily apparent to the casual viewer.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. I got them installed same as you. Two nut plates per side and they worked out nicely...... The build is done now, Just waiting on the airworthiness and eventually paint.....

We used nutplares as above:
1. Drill from outside the screw and rivet holes (for the nutplates)
2. Hold nutplate in place with finer(s) through gearleg hole
3. Attach nutplates with Blind Rivets
4. QED

As Rick says, you are not looking for a "pretty" solution - all covered by fairing. Nor do the rivets need to be strong - they only have to hold the nutplate in place until the screw starts, and thereafter prevent nutplate turning.

Andy (Hill)
RV-8 G-HILZ

For the mains I started with sheet metal screws but they quickly loosened up. Reamed out those holes and put in rivnuts. That worked perfectly.