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Loose nut in the cockpit! Help me identify

walkman

Well Known Member
Yesterday after flying, including some mild acro, I found this loose nut lying on the floor in the cockpit. Operationally everything checks out, heck I made it home. However I'm a little worried and I'd like to figure out where it came from. Its possible it could have been rattling around for years, as I've done the only inverted flight this airplane has seen in 7 years and I've been rained on by gravel, wire tie ends, pens, and various other detritus that builds up over the years.

Does anyone recognize where this might have come from?

Thanks

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kmcr3ylure3n1hy/2014-03-02 12.17.38.jpg
 
If your photo is close to being in scale, looks like a 1/2 inch galv thin nut. Honestly, I don't think my 7a has anything like that in the cockpit! I don't know if there is any 1/2 inch hardware on the entire plane.

With that being said, I would spend some time going over the plans looking for anything like this. Again, verify the size and start with the plans. Engines have some larger hardware, just not galvinized. Case bolts, cylinder bolts, etc.

Good luck.
 
Loose Nut

Looks Like the Jam nut from the end of a control cable....throttler, mixture, prop....?
 
If your photo is close to being in scale, looks like a 1/2 inch galv thin nut. Honestly, I don't think my 7a has anything like that in the cockpit! I don't know if there is any 1/2 inch hardware on the entire plane.

With that being said, I would spend some time going over the plans looking for anything like this. Again, verify the size and start with the plans. Engines have some larger hardware, just not galvinized. Case bolts, cylinder bolts, etc.

Good luck.

Unfortunately I don't have the plans for this airplane.

It doesn't look like standard aircraft hardware to me.

The prior owner was a builder/construction guy.....so perhaps it migrated into the airplane from somewhere else, a job site or something.
 
some battery terminal hardware? maybe ground cable to firewall grd post? we used to joke about at the monthly meetings leaving odd parts in builders planes just to have them scratching their heads. maybe you were had.
 
I can not tell what size it is, but it appears to be a fine thread. You could help by giving the thread pitch and wrench or bolt size more precisely.

Like others maybe a solenoid jamb nut.

I got some hardware store nuts for all my assembly checks where a castle or fiber locking nut was used. I drop them all the time, but have tried to keep the inside cleaned regularly, but it could have jumped in a crevice and just finally rattled out. There are some of those places on the forward fuse floor on a 7.

Actually can not think of a cockpit item that size, but the way I work the forward skin is not on until the end and I sit a cut down box up there with stuff in it as a working area.

Good luck, maybe time for a good inspection, never know what you will find.
 
During the build process I used long threaded bolts with nuts like this to keep the spacing of the bulkheads that accept the wing spars exactly the right distance apart. I don't recall the size of the bolts/nuts but the one in the picture is in the ballpark. Maybe it is left over from the build. Could it have gotten lodged in the gear leg weldements and finally popped loose?
 
forensic analysis needed.......:)

By all means follow the advice here and check all possible sources, but if it isn't TOO painfully obvious, I know most things on the floor of my cockpit aren't FROM the cockpit.....if I wear dockers or something while working on the plane, the pockets like to empty themselves at the most inopportune moment, like while hangin over the seats reaching into the baggage area, or upside down under the panel!:(
I figure one day all that change, pens, keys, gum, AN hardware etc. will come in handy...... when bartering for fuel at some distant field!:rolleyes:
 
By all means follow the advice here and check all possible sources, but if it isn't TOO painfully obvious, I know most things on the floor of my cockpit aren't FROM the cockpit.....if I wear dockers or something while working on the plane, the pockets like to empty themselves at the most inopportune moment, like while hangin over the seats reaching into the baggage area, or upside down under the panel!:(
I figure one day all that change, pens, keys, gum, AN hardware etc. will come in handy...... when bartering for fuel at some distant field!:rolleyes:

That is my best guess at the moment, although I'll do all the checking I can. However, I must say its quite disconcerting to roll inverted and get hit in the head with a nut :eek:
 
I'd check to see how the grounding was done - perhaps something non-standard there.

Otherwise, I think it looks suspiciously like a nut that would be associated with one of the pins holding the yoke on a pneumatic rivet squeezer (assuming they weren't using the quick release pins). In which case, it doesn't belong there.

Dan
 
my first flying was with my friend steve. we would rent a Waco upc-7. very few people were allowed to fly this plane. it typically was used by wally for giving scenic rides. we, however, had aerobatics in mind. steve would warn me as we started our first roll, "close your eyes", and a ton of gum wrappers, trash, who knows what would rain down as the plane slowly went inverted. it had a wood slat floor with gaps and you could also see a small river of oil from radial engine leaks flowing to the tail, but it held like 15 gals of oil, and at $80/hr wet, it was such a deal.
 
Cheap advice here

I'd first determine what size the nut is - just your tap and die set or go to 'the big box' store and use their sample screw in/out device to determine what size it is. Then, I'd get a set of Van's plans for your aircraft - you'll likely use them more than you think. Look over the plans for this nut. If you can't find it on the plans then make sure that it doesn't fit anything that could be in the vicinity or the cockpit. Do a thorough search and take your time. Your life may depend on how well you do this search. Best of luck to you - you will find the answer in the last place that you look!

All of the above is assuming that you don't have any goofy 'friends' who think that this is 'funny' so they left it behind for you to find. Again, best of luck and please let us know the result of your search.
 
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The size and pitch of the nut can narrow your search.

I could possibly see If you have a ground buss (forest of tabs) or possibly your ground strap that gets bolted thru the FW or any other device that could use such size bolt/nut would also be a good place to look.
 
The size and pitch of the nut can narrow your search.

.....

Perhaps a "lost" one from here - disappeared during assembly -

05-14096.jpg


Fine thread and about the correct diameter.
 
Set-up

Looks like a nut that was used for wing rigging and set-up. You would not want to use your expensive close tolerance bolts and nuts for initial wing set-up.
 
Thanks for the ideas...

and phone calls :D

Tonight I'm going to the hangar and will pull up the seat pans and so forth and check the control push rods, rod end bearings etc to make sure all the required nuts are there. I will also determine the material and confirm the size and thread pitch.

I have a three lever throttle quadrant so its not from a regular push-pull cable. How would one of those be floating around anyway, surely it would still be captive on the cable even if it backed off.
 
If you have a DC Load Center, it looks like the nuts used for the Batt and Alt. terminals but they are shiny and new and this looks old, beat up, and used....
 
...someone has to say it.....

...this is exactly why you must ensure that the 5th point on your harness is snugged down good 'n tite. (....and if this one got away, you might want to look around for ....'the other one'....)

okay, had my fun!:D

.......back to your regularly scheduled technical responses.
 
Let's see...

When I removed the floor boards and baggage floor from the RV1 to access the flap and aileron hardware in order to remove the left wing for fuel cell resealing, I found the following:
1 very beat up disposable camera, several AN3 loc-nuts, a few screws, about $.45 in loose change, so my payload went up about 1/4 pound:D
 
It is 7/16" x 20
Steel (sticks to magnet not stainless)
Has traces of white paint that May or may not match the interior

Still looking

Update: floor all up. Clearly not part of control systems, seat belts. It looks remarkably similar to a nut holding an engine cable as it passes through bulkhead. All three are installed on the cables of course, no way for them to float around even if they did back off. However two of the installed nuts are that cadmium brassy look and one is just like his one. Further it is identical to one on a spare cable I have. Could be an old one hat was dropped?

Just gear towers left to check.

Good exercise this !
 
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When I removed the floor boards and baggage floor from the RV1 to access the flap and aileron hardware in order to remove the left wing for fuel cell resealing, I found the following:
1 very beat up disposable camera, several AN3 loc-nuts, a few screws, about $.45 in loose change, so my payload went up about 1/4 pound:D

That's funny and very scary. Any "selfies" or dates on the film that may shed some clues?

Bevan
 
When I removed the floor boards and baggage floor from the RV1 to access the flap and aileron hardware in order to remove the left wing for fuel cell resealing, I found the following:
1 very beat up disposable camera, several AN3 loc-nuts, a few screws, about $.45 in loose change, so my payload went up about 1/4 pound:D

When "teching" a 911 before a track weekend I once found a half bottle of wine and a loaded handgun that the owner professed no know nothing about.
 
5th point belt attach

I have a lock nut on my 5th point mounting bolt. It could be that someone made their own 5th point mount and used a similar setup. That's about all I could think of but then how did it work its way out from under the seat and floor pans. Perhaps the slot around the belt. :rolleyes:I guess the mystery goes on.
Good Luck
Paul
 
I was cleaning up the shop and found the wood blocks that Vans shipped in my quick build fuselage that were in the main spar channel. The nut looks just like yours.

DSCN0222_zps550c3f76.jpg
 
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