Page 36A-06. When installing the left outboard main gear fairing bracket (U-00002 and U-00004) with the long AN3-40A bolts, I broke off both bolts in the holes in the axle. Sounds pretty dumb but here's how it happened.
As I screwed the bolts in they became tight with about 1/8" left to go. I was puzzled so I turned the small 1/4" socket wrench carefully and then, snap, the bolt broke off. I thought I had a bad bolt so I carefully tightened the other bolt and it snapped off as well.
I tried to drill out the bolt shanks but was unsuccessful. I believe the problem is that the holes in the end of the axle were not tapped deep enough for the bolt. I bought a 10-32 tap and tapped the other axle until the tap reached the bottom and the AN3 bolts worked perfectly.
I spoke with Van's a couple time and they will send me replacement bolts but for the axle, they referred me to Matco. Matco asked me to send the axle back and I don't know if they will charge be for a replacement ($71 + shipping on their website).
So this is an easy mistake to make that could cost you $100 and a couple weeks to fix so the moral of the story is: if your bolt gets tight before it should, STOP! Go buy the correct tap and tap it deeper. That solution would have cost me $5.77 and an hour of time.
Just because it's a machined part doesn't mean it's right.
As I screwed the bolts in they became tight with about 1/8" left to go. I was puzzled so I turned the small 1/4" socket wrench carefully and then, snap, the bolt broke off. I thought I had a bad bolt so I carefully tightened the other bolt and it snapped off as well.
I tried to drill out the bolt shanks but was unsuccessful. I believe the problem is that the holes in the end of the axle were not tapped deep enough for the bolt. I bought a 10-32 tap and tapped the other axle until the tap reached the bottom and the AN3 bolts worked perfectly.
I spoke with Van's a couple time and they will send me replacement bolts but for the axle, they referred me to Matco. Matco asked me to send the axle back and I don't know if they will charge be for a replacement ($71 + shipping on their website).
So this is an easy mistake to make that could cost you $100 and a couple weeks to fix so the moral of the story is: if your bolt gets tight before it should, STOP! Go buy the correct tap and tap it deeper. That solution would have cost me $5.77 and an hour of time.
Just because it's a machined part doesn't mean it's right.