| All,
Well after a mornings thought I decided that I would try to retap the fork in hopes that I could get a better alignment. It seems that the wheel pant mounting plate was a bit bent causing some of the misalignment. So relaxing that helped and also drilling a larger hole. I knew that I could not replace the 10x32 so I had hoped for the next size up as Bill suggested below. I did however decide to use another helicoil as I felt the aluminum was too soft and any errors in trying to thread in the bolt would again trash the threading into the fork. So I was hoping that the helicoil would provide strength.
I stopped by Fastenal and picked up the tools and some good education on the process along with some cool posters of bolts, screws, and nuts. So much for decorating the hangar with cool airplane stuff. I installed the helicoils and adjusted the mounting plate and it all went back together fairly nicely. Although the wheel pant shows cracking on the outside, the inside is strong. Also using the adage of not torquing any one bolt/screw until they are all threaded paid dividends. So far it all looks good.
However, I did find another causal factor in the shimmy saga; the bolts that go through the pivot bearing blocks were loose!!! Wow. I had just decided to do a side to side check to determine if everything was sound and sure enough the strut moved too much. This stemmed from my conversation with Ron the other day. Sam and I had already found the drag link loose at the strut. So wow thats a lot to find loose.
Anyhow, she seems fine in the front end. Now off to the shims. To start that I plan to cut off the leg fairings for two reasons. First to better allow me to manipulate the legs when installing the shims and secondly to practice my glasswork when I install piano hinges to facilitate removal.
The last thing I learned was that the equivalent of six 5 gallon jugs of water will greatly facilitate lifting the nose.
Thanks to all for the great advice
Here are pics finally.
You know, George, I think what I would do is this.. you mentioned that you had removed a Helicoil from the fork. I think that the original size is a 10-32. I would drill that hole out and tap it for an AN-4. Then I would repair and fit the pant to the wheel using AN-4 bolts. That will strengthen the attachment and you will not have to reinvent the wheel so to speak. :>) Don’t worry about the fiberglass. If you screw it up you can just grind it off, sand it smooth, and start over again. Taking that part to the class is a really good idea. Fixing it would be really simple and the instructor could use it as a show and tell. Bill Your right Bill. And I may look into having my fork re-welded and then red rill that. But I think your right, learning about fiber glass on the pant is not a bad option either. hmmm, I wonder if I show up to class on the first day with that piece how well that would go over?
Please don’t get in a hurry about the pant. If you have a time constraint, just leave the wheel pant off. It will cost you maybe 1 or 2 knots of speed. I have been flying my plane for two years with no front wheel pant. If you are not familiar with fiberglass, the wheel pant is a good place to learn. I think that if you get a price on a replacement fork, you will decide that experimenting with fiberglass is not so bad after all. :>) Bill, you are correct in that I am talking about the nose wheel pant. I forget that it's easy to confuse the fairing for the wheel pant. I do not care for the term 'pant', but that's what it is. For me to redo the holes in the pant would require me to rebuild up the spacers inside the pant as they are not all that wide. Plus I don't know how to work with fiberglass, yet (taking EAA composites class soon), and I have a time constraint to get the plane together before I leave on another trip. So I thought I could easily mod the fork holes easier than the wheel pant. I know there is a structural concern with modding the fork. I might be better off getting a new fork altogether. When I get to the airport later this morning I will take pics. Is there any way you could include pictures? I think you are describing the nose wheel pant and not the front gear strut fairing, is this correct? If the threaded holes in the fork are still ok, I would not redrill and rethread holes in the fork. If the holes in the front wheel pant are out of alignment, you can fill them with fiberglass and redrill them. To align the new holes, cut the head off a bolt and grind the center of the bolt to a sharp point. Screw the sharpened bolt into the hole in the fork and align the wheel pant. When it is aligned, hit the pant with a rubber hammer over the area where the bolt is and the sharp point will make a mark where you should drill the new hole. I would really like to see pictures of your fairing spacers. I need to redo mine and I am open to ideas. All,
Here is my post to the LML
good idea Mark, thanks.
I got the nose wheel, fork, fairing and what not disconnected from the airplane last night. So she is sitting propped up for now.
What I noticed inside the fairing was that the BID buildup is present on both sides of the inside of the fairing to take up the distance between the fairing and the outside of the fork. Odly enough, the holes on both sides of the fairing are not equal. One is more forward on one side than the other. Also, the holes do not align properly with the drilled holes into the fork. I bolted the fairing mounting plate to the fork and then attached the fairing to the fairing mounting plate on the work bench. Then I checked the side mounting holes of the fairing in relation to the holes drilled into the fork. They are off center. And because of how many times in the past it has been attempted to repair I am having difficulty in deciding how best to repair it. I can see why the fairing has developed cracks in the top of it because the side bolts being forced into the fork have put strain on the top of the fairing and thus cracking.
I believe that I can still use the existing holes in the fairing but re-drill into the fork using the existing holes in the fairing as a template but then create new holes into the fork. However, there is a chance of overlapping into the existing holes in the fork. If I did this I could then put much larger nut plates on the fork. There might be a possibility of making a larger hole, rethreading the new hole and using an AN series bolt such as a 3/16”. The bolt would be much stronger than 10x32 screw and mimic the bolted look of the main gear fairings. This would give me the option of using either a nut plate or possibly re-tapping the fork to accept the bolt threading.
I am just trying to save the fork and hoping to not have to remake up the fairing spacers.
Any thoughts appreciated.
George
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