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Main Gear Wheel Pants

sglynn

sglynn

Well Known Member
Hi RV-7A builders
Hi, I'm just finishing my main gear wheel pants and darn they are tipped up 1/2 inch. The rear mid line measures 8 inches from floor and the front mid line measures 8 1/2 off the floor. Laterally they are within 16th inch of parallel to airplane center line.

Do I need to correct this or is this close enough? They look level. Fuselage is level. Drawing the center line on the pants was somewhat approximate. guess work.

The problem with correcting this is I think the rivets in the 808 bracket that bolts to the axel hub will be too far forward.

Hearing your experiences with this are appreciated.
 
I would fly with and without and see what difference you notice. It is imposable to predict, and can be fixed just as easily (difficultly) later.
 
Couldn't you fill-in the screw holes on the wheel pants themselves with flox/etc. and re-drill them? That's what I'd do, and it won't take very long (other than waiting for the epoxy to cure).
 
Wheel Pant Alignment

Yes, I have drilled, filled, re-drilled several times and just when I think I'm done the measurements have floated off a bit. I might do it one more time. I'm wondering how accurate did others fine this wheel pant positioning to be? There is guess work with finding the waterline on the pant itself, so is 1/2 inch within tolerance.

I'll give it a break and then may fill and drill one more time. ahahah
 
When I did mine, I made a small jig which pinned the wheel pant at its counterpoint on both the leading and trailing edges. With the aircraft on jacks and leveled, I then positioned the wheel pant accordingly and drilled it in place. Afterwards the holes for the 1/8" pins were filled and no was was the wiser.
 
Jig for wheel pant

Yea, I saw your photos. Great idea. I did something similar. Drilling the holes exactly right was compromised by using the light on the inside. I think some error got introduced there. Then after countersinking the holes thinks must have shifted. I may do one more fill and re-drill.

thanks
 
my pants have a few of those drill fill drill fill things also, I think it is part of the build, they just forgot to put it in the plans :D
 
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