Tail installation

acam37 · #1 10-20-2013, 07:47 PM

I have a -4 that needed a new tail due to a mishap involving a hangar collapse. I bought a complete tail from a guy and now its ready to be drilled and bolted back on. Does anyone have some good pics of the tail installation? What I need is how the shims go back in place or an exploded view of the tail. I've got the plans but the previous owner didn't have the builder manual. When we took off the broke tail I neglected to take photos of the dis-assembly. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Sid Lambert · #2 10-21-2013, 07:50 AM

Call Vans. They can send you the instructions.

acam37 · #3 10-21-2013, 09:18 AM

Will do. I'll ask them about getting a new builder manual as well. I may need it in the future. I already mailed them the waiver form and had the owner name changed in their data base. So far I've had good dealings with Vans. They went ahead and shipped all the parts I needed to repair the damage before they got the paperwork back. That means I should be able to start the rebuild by the end of the week.

Sid Lambert · #4 10-21-2013, 09:54 AM

Yes, they are. I'm doing exactly the same thing right now.

I just bought the parts and am slowly building a new tail.

Mel · #5 10-21-2013, 10:24 AM

The RV-4 is an airplane that many builders had to shim the horizontal stabilizer during flight testing, so there is no "standard" shim set-up.
If you didn't record the shim set-up during disassembly, you might try fitting to the original fairing to get an idea of the proper incidence.

acam37 · #6 10-21-2013, 11:24 AM

Good idea. I still have everything I took off the damaged tail. One problem I ran into taking it off is that it was tore up so bad I wound up cutting the horizontal stab spars in order to get some bolts out and the trim cable was stuck in the bent spar.

rvbuilder1 · #7 10-21-2013, 03:17 PM

Mel
I set mine to zero (Level) with the fuselage level using the wood blocks at the rear as indicated in the manual and shimmed it. I had no problems. What Kind of problems were discussed:

acam37 · #8 10-21-2013, 06:29 PM

No problems yet. The old tail had some shims on the vertical stab at the bottom. The horizontal stab did not.

az_gila · #9 10-21-2013, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acam37

No problems yet. The old tail had some shims on the vertical stab at the bottom. The horizontal stab did not.

Since they were not pre-drilled it sounds like the shims were there just to make up for some minor drilling/layout errors.

They probably were not very thick.

acam37 · #10 12-08-2013, 03:18 PM

I finished the turtle deck on my fastback mod, so we decided to set the new tail on to see if it would fit. First off we noticed that the original tail installation was not done in accordance with the plans I have. The plans show that the F-410 top skin former is moved forward of the bottom former. Mine is lined up. Where the vertical stab attaches to the horizontal stab spar at F-410 my old tail section was attached to only one piece of angle that was bolted to the top longeron. The plans call for two (one on top and one on bottom) with the longeron sandwiched between and secured with 4 bolts. The horizontal stab was bolted to the angle instead of riveted.

(Edit) apparently I have two different sets of plans. I went back and looked at the original builder plans (931) and the tail attachment is correct. The new plans I have show a different installation. I think I'll give Vans a call and ask if I should go with the newer version. There must be a reason they were changed.