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Lower cowl removal (9a)

Manchu16

Active Member
I am looking for help on the right way to remove the lower cowl of the 9A with the legacy gear leg. Carb’ed motor with lower intake to the FAB and 2 blade prop. I feel like I am fighting it way too much to be the right way.

I remove all of the lower hinge pins, remove the gear leg intersection fairing and the plate to the aft of the gear leg. Then I work the baffling lose from the nose to drop it ever so slightly. It is here where the fight begins. I have to flex the fiberglass nose significantly to get it around the spinner. It is so tight I scratch through a layer or two of painters tape to protect the paint. The gear leg opening is cut as far forward as the intersection fairing will allow.

Please help educate me on the correct way.
 
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I have a 9 ( but not A ). I didn't have to deal with the nose gear on lower cowl removal but did always have problem getting it off over the air inlet box snout and getting it to clear the spinner.
I reworked the AIR INLET baffles( attached to the lower inlet area) and rather than attaching permanently to the lower cowl I mounted each right and left baffle material to a piece of aluminum and attached some nut plates. the three screws go in the bottom of of the inlet and are accessible ( where the rivets were that previously held the baffle in place) . The plates with baffles are removed before the lower cowl is removed and installed after the lower cowl goes back in position. This seems to provide me with a much easier lower cowl removal , at least on a 9 . I got some pictures and glad to send them if you think that would help.
I also have a 2 1/2 prop extension rather than the 2 1/4 prop spacer, that's another story on shifting CG with a weighted crush plate.
 
lower cowl remaval

lessen the weight on the nose wheel. nose leg will move down and away from the cowl slot,slightly.
i used two bags of sand ,one on each side of the horizontal stab spar centerline.
helps some but i still used the masking tape. i removed the sand bags when the cowl was off.
 
On mine, I remove the side pins last after placing a stand under the cowl 3" fwd of the lower hinge and about 3" lower than the cowl. The side pins are now removed and the back of the cowl sits in the support. I then go to the front and manipulate the front down and reach way under with one hand and support the cowl and remove it.....Just reverse to install.
 
I am looking for help on the right way to remove the lower cowl of the 9A with the legacy gear leg. Carb’ed motor with lower intake to the FAB and 2 blade prop. I feel like I am fighting it way too much to be the right way.

I remove all of the lower hinge pins, remove the gear leg intersection fairing and the plate to the aft of the gear leg. Then I work the baffling lose from the nose to drop it ever so slightly. It is here where the fight begins. I have to flex the fiberglass nose significantly to get it around the spinner. It is so tight I scratch through a layer or two of painters tape to protect the paint. The gear leg opening is cut as far forward as the intersection fairing will allow.

Please help educate me on the correct way.

cowl needs to tip backwards a bit. This requires a long enough slot and for you to work the vertical cowl ends to clear the hinges allowing the tipping.

Larry
 
Lower Cowl Removal

This works great on the 6A not sure about the 9a
 

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Maybe this would help u. I extended the nose fairing prior to paint. This allows u to lengthen the slot in the cowl for nose wheel axle. Works for my 7A. Removal of cowl is fairly EZ.
 

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The rear of the cowl drops down first before the front clears the spinner. Also try cutting more of the slot for the nose gear as stated in the previous post. First mark the front edge of the nose gear fairing on the cowl so you don’t cut to much.

If that doesn’t work a sledgehammer will remove anything
 
Maybe this would help u. I extended the nose fairing prior to paint. This allows u to lengthen the slot in the cowl for nose wheel axle. Works for my 7A. Removal of cowl is fairly EZ.

I have contemplated doing something similar. Glad to see what it looks like.
 
I have a 7A with a Catto three bladed prop and a Sam James cowling. It is simply a two person job to make it easier and to not ding up your paint. I put some old sweat socks on the two props that are angled down. The trick is then to spread the back side of the cowling so it will slide under the fuselage, which will allow the front of the cowing to clear the prop. You just repeat the process backwards putting it back on. Making the slot a little longer will help to slide it back far enough to clear the prop.
 
I use a piece of shower pan vinyl material cut to fit around the prop back plate and clipped off to it so the front of the cowl doesn't scrape against the plate when working the lower cowl on or off. It is thick enough to not tear and protects the cowl well. Taking the lower cowl off or putting it on is much easier with one person on each side.
 
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