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  #1  
Old 01-04-2010, 07:53 PM
RV8R999 RV8R999 is offline
 
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Default wheel pants and tire inflation

Just installed my wheel pants. Wondering if anyone has modified them to allow tire inflation without removal? Was thinking of a 1" dia hole directly opposite the valve stem and using a plastic plug when flying.

Also - anyone have problems with only 5/8" clearance between tire and pant?

Regards,

Ken
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  #2  
Old 01-04-2010, 08:12 PM
gciampa gciampa is offline
 
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Location: Fuquay Varina, NC
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Yes, a number of folks drill a hole opposite the valve stem for just this purpose. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole and bought an aluminum cap from the local Aircraft Certified Equipment supplier.

Also, you can get an valve extension, to pump up the tires. The valve extensions are common for tractor trailer tire valves.

Very handy...another optimization is to paint a strip on the inside edge of the tire when the valve is aligned with the hole in the wheel pant. This-a-way, when you need to put air in the tire, you can role the plane so the strip is in the correct position, w/out having to need two people to help align the valve w/ the hole, whilst moving the plane.
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Old 01-04-2010, 08:14 PM
gciampa gciampa is offline
 
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Ken,

and to answer the question about tire clearance, yes, you have to trim the wheel pants to ensure uniform clearance between the wheel pant and tires.

Otherwise, *when* the tire flexes on landing, it will grab the edge of the wheel pant and crack the wheel pant when the fiberglass give way.

I wonder how I know that?
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  #4  
Old 01-04-2010, 08:26 PM
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Ironflight Ironflight is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gciampa View Post
Ken,

and to answer the question about tire clearance, yes, you have to trim the wheel pants to ensure uniform clearance between the wheel pant and tires.

Otherwise, *when* the tire flexes on landing, it will grab the edge of the wheel pant and crack the wheel pant when the fiberglass give way.
Or worse - you'll cut the tire, it will go flat, and you'll end up sliding down the runway on the remains of your nicely-finished wheel pant. You can grind off about an inch in a single incident. And yup, you can bet I know that first hand.

I use the "Rule of Thumb" Ken - I like the slot width to be about as wide as the knuckle on my thumb, all the way around. I used much tighter clearances at first. After my cut tire, I enlarged it to thumb width, lost ZERO speed, and have had no further tire clearance issues.

Paul
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  #5  
Old 01-04-2010, 08:36 PM
RV8R999 RV8R999 is offline
 
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yeah thats what I thought - 5/8" seemed a little close to me, 3/4 will be better. Thanks.

Good idea on the tire stripe!
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  #6  
Old 01-05-2010, 12:33 AM
Dan-N118KB Dan-N118KB is offline
 
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Default Hole size

I found 3/4 kind of small - 1" allows more light to look for the valve stem. No need to paint a stripe on the tire.
Dan-N118KB
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  #7  
Old 01-05-2010, 01:14 AM
Falcon Falcon is offline
 
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Location: Houston
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Default Straight Tire inflation tool.

Use the 1" hole if possible like a lot of others have. I market a straight tire inflation air chuck specially for the application of inflation of tires through the wheel pant hole. It has a straight chuck and air valve on a cnc machine 6061-T6 aluminum tube. Send me an email if interested. gfarek@yahoo.com Link to Picture http://tinypic.com/r/ohs7rk/6

Last edited by Falcon : 01-05-2010 at 01:52 AM. Reason: Add Pic Link
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  #8  
Old 01-05-2010, 05:58 AM
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pierre smith pierre smith is offline
 
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Default Speaking of which....

...leads me to ask what RV-10 owners do here. I had 1" holes in my -6 but the wheel pants on the -10 are huge! I also had a white stripe on the outside of the tire which helped align the valve stem with the hole.

Best,
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  #9  
Old 01-05-2010, 07:13 AM
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L.Adamson L.Adamson is offline
 
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From someone else's idea............ I fiberglassed a short piece of PVC pipe (about 1/8" long) inside the wheel pant. This holds a light weight plastic plug from Home Depot, Lowes, etc to the pant very well. The plug is painted to match.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
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  #10  
Old 01-05-2010, 09:52 AM
Bob Axsom Bob Axsom is offline
 
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Default The clearance thing

The clearance thing is not as clear as you might think. When you fly, when you land, when you have weight on the wheels in steady state condition, where the edge of the fairings are with respect the the tire, the angle of the fairing surface with respect to the tire surface and the position of the edge with respect to the tire rotation all need to be considered if you want to optimize the effectiveness of the fairing function which is to maximize speed. Van's has evolved the fairings at least once to improve performance and it pains me to hear about cutting access holes in the side and rationalizing that a 5/8" gap may be too small.

I provided some details in the thread about subfairings.

Bob Axsom

Last edited by Bob Axsom : 01-05-2010 at 09:54 AM.
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