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  #1  
Old 04-06-2010, 09:05 PM
koda2 koda2 is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: West Texas
Posts: 282
Default Gear Weldments

I thought once I got past the damage caused by the first builder and then fixing the mistakes I had made, the rest of my early 6AQB would go together a whole lot easier. But not so. I have spent a considerable amount of time and expense in the last 12 months dealing with the unsatisfactory work from the factory.

My latest discovery is that the main gear weldments don't fit.

At first I thought it was my ineptitude in putting things together, but putting the wings on the bench and trying to match a weldment to a a spar showed that almost none of the "match-drilled" holes match the spar much less the fuselage holes. Some of the holes are considerably off. Here's one side:



The weldments don't match the gear legs either. Here is the right gear leg top showing that the hole drilled is not the same.



My only conclusion is that the weldments were mixed up somehow when the kit was first shipped years ago and I got somebody else's weldments. Or else my weldments were just drilled on a factory jig somewhere, hoping they'd fit.

I have tried to recreate the geometry to see just how far off all the holes are when the landing gear is installed but so far I can't quite get the legs quite where they should be under the plane. I will probably have to enlarge the holes in the floor skin some more.



If I can get the parts to line up, I may be able to take the gear weldments and weld the 50 or so holes shut and re-drill and re-ream them. At least some of the re-drilling will have to be done with the plane upright and both assemblies clamped to the spar.

Has anybody done this? Is it advisable?

My only other good option is to buy all new weldments and gear legs. Vans has a set of legs and weldments that are supposedly match-drilled to each other. No guarantee that they will fit but at least the weldments will be a clean slate.

Has anybody else dealt with this?

Dave A.
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  #2  
Old 04-07-2010, 06:01 AM
WingsOnWheels WingsOnWheels is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Plano, TX
Posts: 2,090
Default

I haven't seen mention of this particular issue before. I would agree that you likely received the wrong weldments with the QB fuse. I would give Vans a call and see what they say. Even if the kit is second-hand, they might know of a solution or be willing to send replacements.

I just received my -6 fuslage kit a couple weeks ago. The new kits do come with the gear leg and weldment match-drilled together.
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Last edited by WingsOnWheels : 04-07-2010 at 06:03 AM.
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  #3  
Old 04-07-2010, 08:25 AM
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JonJay JonJay is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Battleground
Posts: 4,348
Default Give Russ a call.

http://http://mccutcheonmetalfabricationaviation.com/
He builds the weldments for Vans. He can probably help.
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  #4  
Old 04-08-2010, 01:03 PM
Bob Hoffman Bob Hoffman is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 206
Default

Dave,
Looking at picture #3 in lining the landing gear to each other you clamped each to a long piece of angle iron (which I also did) but I notice that you appear to have a spacer under the threads (which I didn't do) resulting in a toe out.Did I miss something in my process ? If I did how important is it ?
How much of a spacer is it ?
Bob
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  #5  
Old 04-08-2010, 04:47 PM
LarryT LarryT is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Battle Ground, WA
Posts: 426
Default Toe-in?

or am I looking at the photograph wrong?

LarryT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Hoffman View Post
Dave,
Looking at picture #3 in lining the landing gear to each other you clamped each to a long piece of angle iron (which I also did) but I notice that you appear to have a spacer under the threads (which I didn't do) resulting in a toe out.Did I miss something in my process ? If I did how important is it ?
How much of a spacer is it ?
Bob
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  #6  
Old 04-08-2010, 07:07 PM
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flion flion is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 2,653
Default

It's toe-in, and the plans said you could use a penny there. Literally the cheapest shims I ever used ...
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  #7  
Old 04-09-2010, 12:56 AM
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az_gila az_gila is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: 57AZ - NW Tucson area
Posts: 10,011
Post How old are...

...the weldments?

The early ones that came from Vans were not drilled with any of the AN3 holes. All of the hole were match drilled to the spar, and then the 6 or so AN4 holes were created by enlarging the specific AN3 holes.

Could your weldment be an early one that was customer drilled to the spar? Perhaps even a different spar?
The early weldments were also not Vans powder coated (no finish on them), but some did come with the gear leg match drilled to the weldment.

Since your gear leg match drilling is off, I wonder if you got a mix of different era parts?
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Last edited by az_gila : 04-09-2010 at 12:58 AM.
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  #8  
Old 04-09-2010, 11:47 AM
noelf noelf is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Cary, N.C.
Posts: 1,216
Default I am sort of confused...

...with the first picture. It looks like the aircraft is upside down, and the gear weldments are right side up. I am looking at the preview plans Sheet 59, top of the spar cary-through is straight. Your photo could be misleading??

Also, I did not see the F-604B (L&R) that should have been riveted onto the F-604C spar cary-through.

On my -6A slow build, there is a single AN5-21A bolt that locates the gear leg into the gear leg weldment. That bolt is located towards the top of the weldment. My gear leg and weldment were "Van's aligned and drilled" in their shop fixture, so I had no issues aligning the leg to the weldment bolt hole. I did have to align and drill the weldments to the rest of the aircraft.
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  #9  
Old 04-09-2010, 10:40 PM
az_gila's Avatar
az_gila az_gila is offline
 
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Location: 57AZ - NW Tucson area
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Smile The pic is of...

Quote:
Originally Posted by noelf View Post
...with the first picture. It looks like the aircraft is upside down, and the gear weldments are right side up. I am looking at the preview plans Sheet 59, top of the spar cary-through is straight. Your photo could be misleading??
......
...the weldment held against the wing spar stub. The wing is upside down on saw horses, I presume. No fuselage parts in the first pic.

Took me a while to work this out too...
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  #10  
Old 04-10-2010, 05:05 AM
noelf noelf is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Cary, N.C.
Posts: 1,216
Default Thanks Gil...

...now I see it. So, in the picture, if the wing is upside down, and the gear weldment is right side up, then I guess I would expect the holes to NOT align...
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