What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

6A - Toe-in/out and camber

Hi,
I discovered deep rust in the main gear legs - and I want to replace them. My inspector and I agree that the integrity of the legs are compromised. Previous owner&builder had filled up the fairings with "builders foam" which soaks in moist and created immense rust on the legs.

I guess the gear legs comes non-drilled - so asking here - if anyone had some good ideas of how to align the gear legs/axels for their toe-in/out and camber (if this can be adjusted) ?

Hope for ideas and good advise.

Per
Copenhagen, Denmark
RV-6A - OY-IPA
 
When you replace a nose gear leg you have to send it in for match drilling. Unless you know a really good machine shop and are willing to take a chance. I would think the same would be best for main gear legs. Just an opinion. Worth what you paid for it. :)
 
Hopefully you have the original construction manual and drawings, or the RV-6A construction CD, or the FD Plans for the RV-6/6A memory stick.

The construction manual has the builder match drill the gear leg mounts with the gear legs installed while the aircraft is upside down and wings installed...I believe while it is still in the jig.

The manual and drawings give the "this-is-how-to-measure-it" information and how to set the Toe-In dimensions. This is a two page instruction discussion in the construction manual with reference to drawing #59.
 
In your situation, since you are dealing with fitting legs to gear mount brackets that already have final size holes drilled in them the best thing to do is use your old legs to fixture the new legs for drilling. Any decent machinist should be able to do this.
 
The plans did include a gear alignment procedure with the airplane right side up. That part is not hard, but drilling the hole is problematic. I bought my current RV-6 built, and quickly noticed the tires wearing fast. Gear alignment check showed the gear legs not lined up properly. A later kit wouldn’t have had these problems as the mounts and legs were predrilled. In any case, I had to realign the legs by welding up the mount holes, aligning the gear legs, then carefully drilling on the airplane.

If your existing gear legs are properly aligned, Scott’s recommended solution would be my first choice.
 
Hi,
I discovered deep rust in the main gear legs - and I want to replace them. My inspector and I agree that the integrity of the legs are compromised. Previous owner&builder had filled up the fairings with "builders foam" which soaks in moist and created immense rust on the legs.

I guess the gear legs comes non-drilled - so asking here - if anyone had some good ideas of how to align the gear legs/axels for their toe-in/out and camber (if this can be adjusted) ?

Hope for ideas and good advise.

Per
Copenhagen, Denmark
RV-6A - OY-IPA

Depending on when your kit was produced (do the parts have the factory powdercoat?), the gear leg may have been pre-drilled. The main gear for my 6A came pre-drilled. If I were in the same boat, I would use the existing leg as a guide, then drill oversize in assembly, or ream for a taper-pin in assembly.
 
Depending on when your kit was produced (do the parts have the factory powdercoat?), the gear leg may have been pre-drilled. The main gear for my 6A came pre-drilled. If I were in the same boat, I would use the existing leg as a guide, then drill oversize in assembly, or ream for a taper-pin in assembly.

When I was dealing with my alignment issue, I was made aware by Vans that -6’s went through 3 phases of gear legs in the kits. The first gear legs and mounts were shipped without holes drilled and it was all up to the builder, next came gear legs and mounts match drilled, but NOT interchangeable, and last was predrilled and interchangeable.
 
Replacing gear legs

Talked to Tech support at Vans yesterday - they gear legs comes without drilled holes for my kit - so we will match the existing legs and the position of their holes and build a fixture to drilll the two new legs with identical positions. Luckily the RV community at my airport is quite big and we have a huge number of "supporters" with various skills - so one of the machinist will do this drilling.

Today we only managed to get one leg off the aircraft - they are unbelievable stuck (rust) - the other one we can turn now, but it's still stuck as we can't hammer it out of the tubing. We will give it another try tomorrow. It's soaked in rust disolvant overnight and we hope this will do the trick alongside some mild heating of the tubing with a heat gun.

If anyone has any ideas of how to get these gear legs off, apart from brute force - I am all ears. :D
 
Today we only managed to get one leg off the aircraft - they are unbelievable stuck (rust) - the other one we can turn now, but it's still stuck as we can't hammer it out of the tubing. We will give it another try tomorrow. It's soaked in rust disolvant overnight and we hope this will do the trick alongside some mild heating of the tubing with a heat gun.

If anyone has any ideas of how to get these gear legs off, apart from brute force - I am all ears. :D

May need to be more aggressive than a heat gun. Break out a torch and get the gear socket hot.

Best wishes!
 
Well, there is another way to get a stuck -6A gear leg our of the socket.
First, remove the wheel assembly, all of the brake stuff and fluid lines.
Next, unbolt the gear leg socket assembly from the wing carry through structure. Keep track of any shimes that were used in the original assembly. You can now remove the entire gear leg with attached mount up and out through the cockpit.
Once this entire assembly is out of the aircraft you can take the unit to a hydrallic press and "press" it out.
 
Gear leg remove suggestion

Since you are replacing the gear leg you could weld or bolt a bracket around the upper middle of the leg and use it to hit with a hammer to remove it
 
In your situation, since you are dealing with fitting legs to gear mount brackets that already have final size holes drilled in them the best thing to do is use your old legs to fixture the new legs for drilling. Any decent machinist should be able to do this.

This is the only way to make sure that the gear fits the same as before.
 
Old legs out - new ones bought

After a lot of struggle, heat gun, rust dissolvent and some hammering we got both legs off the girl. they have severe pitting beyond what I feel comfortable with. I talked to Vans tech support and they said the legs would probably not break but rust/pitting is never good.

We got the new legs today (alongside new fairings - which needs a lot of trimming). One of the other RV's at my airport have two pilots who are professional machinists with more than 30 years experience each - and they will drill the two holes to match the old legs. They already build a fixture for the old legs and is ready to drill the new holes tomorrow. :)

the new legs comes pretty raw - so I will spray them before installing them.

I had some sleepless nights of "what did I do - can this be fixed" but I feel good about my decision to never compromise safety and integrity of the parts of the aircraft and it's great to have a lot of advise here and helping hands when my skills comes short.
 
Back
Top