I too have lost one of these bolts.
I haven’t done this, but you could
drill a couple of 1/16 inch holes in the wheel pant maybe ½ inch or so apart, aft
of the bolt and run a safety wire thru them. Alternatively, you could flox in
a small loop of safety wire just aft of the bolt that you could use as an
attachment for a safety wire. Similar to the way that the fuel drains in the
wings are safetied
Bill .
From: Lancair Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Skip Slater
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2014
9:38 AM
To: Lancair
Mailing List
Subject: [LML] Re: Safety wiring
will pants
When we built up my ES wheel pants, we bonded a large metal
washer to the outside of the bolt holes, then put filler on the sides to
blend it in and a couple of BID over it. The idea was to prevent stress
from cracking the fiberglass by creating a hard point and spreading the
load. It doesn't protect the paint - I put a flat washer under the bolt
to do that. I've also lost bolts and spacers twice, even though I
preflight exactly the same way Gary described; by wiggling the back end of the
pant to check for tightness on each walkaround. Even though I now put
Locktite on the ends of the threads, that bolt will still back it's way out
over time. I just found one loose the last time I went flying a couple of
days ago and it took about a turn and a half to get the bolt tight again.
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably figure out a way
to secure the bolt because it's been a persistent issue.
Sent: Tuesday, October
14, 2014 3:49 AM
Subject: [LML] Re: Safety
wiring will pants
I
have found that the bolt needs to be part of the preflight inspection. Just
wiggle the aft tip of the pant and if it moves, tighten the bolt. I hesitate to
really tighten it as it would crush the pant material, so it's a judgement
call. If you don't tighten it enough it for sure will come loose. I'm guessing,
but it seems like about 10 ft-lbs is enough. One way to fix it would be to put
a small (SS?) metal plate on the surface screwed to the pant, maybe with one
screw behind the hole. Then put a star washer under the bolt head. Those bolt
heads bug me - they must be costing 2 knots! I was going to either build a
cavity in the pant to make them flush or to find a button head bolt. I did
neither.
I have lost my outer bolt and
spacer two times now for my wheel pants on the=
main gear.
Has anybody considered a way to
safety wire the bolt to the wheel pant the b=
olt to prevent loosing them
inflight?
I just hope it didn't hit anybody.