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RV-6A rubber smell on landing

P

PensacolaPilot

Member
I am relatively new to flying RV6 A's and notice a strong rubber smell whenever I land. This smell seems stronger when I use flaps, and dissipates right after I land. (No, I don't land excessively fast.) I first suspected the main gear fairings rubbing against the main tires but after increasing the space between the fairings and tire the problem persists. Any ideas?
 
I would check the flap motor.

First thought was tires rubbing but you already checked.
 
I am also quite new to the 6A, and I've noticed the same thing, pretty much every landing. Found it kind of curious myself.
 
two posibilities

When I switched from originals to new goodyear flight customs I had to modify my fairings to make room. You said you've done that, but I'd varify that you dont have a transient rub still (with landing deformations). Another posibility is that you're just getting the smoke from that landing "chirp" migrating up through the fairings. Is there direct communication to the cockpit?
 
I get a fair bit of what seems to be tire dust going up the gear legs, and out from the upper gear fairing on my 6A. I sealed where the gear leg itself goes into the fuselage, but perhaps if I hadn't sealed it, I'd smell burning rubber also. Seems to be air flow upwards in the gear fairings. Try sealing where the gear goes through the fuse belly (actually it is the gear mount).
 
Burning Rubber

The same thing happened to me when I first bought my 6A. I trained in "Old Blue" with Mike Seager and do not remember the smell but when I flew with Mike in my plane it happened on almost every landing. My theory is it happens with all planes when your tires go from 0 to 60 MPH very quickly. The difference is the set up of the plane as to whether the smell will enter the cockpit. The landing will also increase or decrease the chances of the odor.:rolleyes: After 7+ years and 700+ hours I seldom get the smell anymore but I can usually tell by my landing if it is going to happen. I figure it's the tires' way of rating my landing.;)
Note: I do not know if this has anything to do with it but I am flying with the old style wheel pants and have had some rubbing on the inside top of the pants.
 
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I get a bad smell in the cockpit after some of my landings, but it's not rubber....;)
 
Is it possible that you don't have your feet low enough on the pedals to start with and you're getting some brake action along with your rudder inputs? That might explain some extra chirping and rubber wear.
 
I had the same issue and solved it with RTV. Seal up the opening where the gear leg goes into the fuse. The smell will go away. The fairings act as a chimney allowing the tire smell to waft up into the cockpit. Seal it and it will stop.
 
Good point Snowflake

...The last thing to do on final, my flight instructor taught me, was after the GUMPS check he would say 'Heels on the floor'
 
I had the same problem after getting all the fairings on. Seal the gear leg fairings. Jam some foam rubber in there at the top to test the theory.
 
fl-mike said:
I had the same problem after getting all the fairings on. Seal the gear leg fairings. Jam some foam rubber in there at the top to test the theory.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is how you fix it. It's just the tires going from 0 to 60 in 1/4-second. I got tired of smelling the rubber so I injected a small amount of expanding foam in the top of the gear leg fairings. Problem solved. Maybe a better solution is to RTV the hole where the gear leg enters the cabin...but I really don't think the foam is going to hurt anything.
 
Interesting discussion since two weeks ago a friend landed at our airport and reported the same "smell" and under the same circumstances. His "6" has been flying for several years and he had not experienced that before.

He had converted to larger tires (I forgot which specific ones) recently and so he removed the pants to check. No apparent rubbing was observed but he elected to keep the pants off and see the results.

He later called me and said the pants/wheels had nothing to do with the problem, in fact what had happened was the end of the heat muff had loosened and on landing would contact one of the exhaust hangers (rubber) and produce the smell.

Just look for anything "Rubber" in the engine compartment and have a look see.

Larry
 
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