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Loose screw threadings

DylanRush

Active Member
The fiberglass wheel pants on my 6A are held together with about a dozen screws. Got a flat tire, fixed it, then a few weeks later I noticed a couple were missing. I got some replacements from my mechanic and flew for a bit. Noticed they were missing again about a week later.

I am guessing that the threaded holes that they are screwing into have become loose. So I bought some epoxy thinking maybe I can gunk it up and create a tighter connection? My plan was to apply a little epoxy to the hole, screw a screw in, wait a minute, unscrew it, then wait 5-20 minutes.

Am I setting myself up for failure? I’m a little afraid that the epoxy will permanently trap the screws there. They do need to be able to come off in order to get to the wheels. Also do you think I should drill it out first to “clean it up”?
 
This might work. Spray the screws with your wife’s hairspray so the epoxy won’t stick to them. A better plan would be to fill the holes with a mixture of epoxy and flox. Let dry, re-drill, tap.
 
A couple things

I assume your screwing into a machine thread nutplate which when new, is a self locking crimped thread or nylon locknut type. They will only handle so many in-out repetitions before requiring replacement. Use of a screw gun only accelerates the thread wear. The best solution it to replace the nutplates at sometime soon. In the mean time, install them with "red" Loktite or paint the screw threads with clear nail polish and install them quickly.
 
Make sure the screws are long enough to get though the nut plates. You can slightly squeeze the aft part of the nut plates to firm up the locking feature until they can be replaced.

Are you using tinnermans under the screws? I assume you are.
 
Thanks for the advice all. I'll go back and check whether I have a Tinnerman on the other side or a machine thread nut plate.

fixnflyguy, would I still be able to remove them if I use the red loctite?
 
Thanks for the advice all. I'll go back and check whether I have a Tinnerman on the other side or a machine thread nut plate.

fixnflyguy, would I still be able to remove them if I use the red loctite?

Probably not. If you want to remove them, use BLUE loctite.

You might as well go ahead and replace the nutplates and quit wasting time with other temporary fixes. It's an easy job.

Tinnerman washers go on the *outside*, under the screw head, btw. We're not talking about Tinnerman *nuts* in this context.

A3236-012-193.jpg
 
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Just as an experiment, ask your mechanic for a #8 screw and try it in the holes. Maybe smaller #6 screws were put in holes meant for the bigger #8 screw in error?
Worth a try...
 
Fix it right and be done with it for a lifetime.

It seems you might not have a nutplate that the screw is going to it. If not, adding a nutplate is not very hard or expensive. If there is a nutplate and stripped, then replace it. Using epoxy will be a short lived solution. If you insist of going this route, try to embed a nut in that epoxy so the screw is going thru a nut instead of just epoxy.
 
Got it, sweet. Yes I have Tinnerman washers. Will check for nut plates. If I don't have any, might as well add them.
 
Pretty sure you have nut plates. They may have lost their pinch on the screw over the years, but this can be controlled with BLUE locktite. Don’t use the red locktite - that’s used on fasteners you don’t want to be able to remove - like on engine case studs. If your wheel pant nut plates are stripped, you’ll need to drill them out and replace them. Not difficult, but if you damage the adjacent fiberglass material while drilling out the platenut you might find yourself glassing over the buggered up existing platenut rivet attach holes and then using a platenut jig to drill new platenut attach rivets - again very easy if you have the tools.
 
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