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RV-6A Nose Wheelpant

D

DaveHadfield

Member
Our RV6A has never had a fairing for the nose gear, just the mains.

We've recently repainted it, and I bought the NW fairing kit from Vans, and am in the process of installing it.

But I'm a little confused about how it goes on-and-off based on the plans. Is there some kind of slide-it-aft function, once you unscrew and remove the front half of the fairing?

On the mounting bracket as it comes from Vans, what's the point of removing the material in front of the axle-bolt, to make a slot? Isn't the mounting more secure if you leave it as a hole?

Thanks,

Dave
 
Dave,
The plans are a little confusing at first but if you stare at them long enough it becomes clear.

The material is removed on purpose to make a slot. The back half of the wheelpant slides on and the front hole on the bracket fits the socket bolts in front. This is what locks the rear half of the wheel pant onto the fork.

By adding the washers to the axle as shown, you create a space for the bracket to slide into.

Take extra care not to enlarge the back hole or the slot. The washers are not 21/32" in dia. They are smaller. If you have any slop in the slot, the nose pant will have disconcerting up and down play when finally installed.

I finally threw out the washers and made my own on my lathe. They were larger in diam (not thickness) and the pant fits tight.

If you don't do the slot you can't disassemble the wheel pant from the fork:)
Dave A
 
Thanks.

It doesn't seem that secure to me. I was thinking it would be more solid to leave the brackets on the axle, and attach the rear half of the pant via 8 screws, and undo them whenever you want it off.

That's the way I'm doing it as I'm fitting it -- it slides over the brackets without any problem.

Or am I re-inventing the wheel here ;)

Speaking of fitting, how did you mark on the inside of the wheel pant where to drill the holes for the bracket screws?

Dave
 
I made the mistake of painting my wheel pants before locating and drilling the required holes for the bracket screws; consequently, I made a dogs breakfast of the job. If you fit the pants BEFORE painting, you can see the holes in the bracket through the fiberglass. Not being able to do so meant I had to sand away some paint to be able to do so. It was ugly... (;>0)

Maybe some others will have some concrete suggestions as to how to proceed from here with out paint removal...

John
 
koda2 said:
If you don't do the slot you can't disassemble the wheel pant from the fork:)
Dave A
Click to expand...

Actually you can, but it requires another set of holes for each side of the axle bolt and it is a pain to hold the wheel and the fairing in alignment at the same time to allow getting the bolt inserted.


DaveHadfield said:
Or am I re-inventing the wheel here ;)

Speaking of fitting, how did you mark on the inside of the wheel pant where to drill the holes for the bracket screws?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that there are many hundreds of RV's flying with this bracket installation.... built per plans. So I guess that would be defined as reinventing the wheel....

The entire picture is not not always visible to someone new to the scene....
You will find that if you install it as you suggest, that it is very difficult to get the fairing portion on and off. The reason for this is that the aft half of the wheel fairing gets narrower at the fwd end than it is where the brackets are located. This makes it difficult to slid it off of the brackets if they stay in place during removal.
 
Dave

I can pull the wheelpant off my 6A so that you can have a look at how it all goes together. It does work very well as designed. Won't be back to NV8 from SnF for a couple of days. If you can wait, flip me an email.

John
rv6a(at)rogers.com
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the offer to help.

Oddly, with this assembly so far, I find it far easier to slide the wheel pant onto the bracket, than the bracket onto the fork.

To get the bracket to slide onto the fork, I need to use 2 spacer washers. And that makes it a bit loose. Using just one washer, and it binds.

Anyway, I'm at the painting stage now, thanks.

But another question: is it possible to source Allen screws (cap screws) with longer heads, so that the tow-bar can get a better grip? Aircraft Spruce doesn't seem to have them.

Dave
 
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