gear leg fairings and support

[kozinski]

Hi Folks,
Old time -6 here (s/n 38) first batch out of the factory. I'm flying after decades of building and stuff. I've got stiffeners on the gear legs and fiberglass over that. No aluminum. Struggling to keep the leg fairing (not end but whole assembly) from twisting and moving up and down the leg. Might be too stiff, not sure. I'm looking for some good pictures of what you have, how to keep things from moving up and down the steel legs, etc. I've got original made end fairing too. After landing the whole gear leg fairing will shift up/down/twist.
Thanks for you assistance.
Gary N38GK NH

[Floog]

I've got the same problem with the gear leg fairing moving down the leg after a few landings. The hose clamp at the top of the fairing isn't very effective due to being clamped to a tapered surface. If the gear leg non-tapered surface was just a couple of inches longer, it might help. I'm going to put 3M tape between the fairing and leg full length as a bearing surface to see if that might help. I'll be following the thread to see what others have done.....Thanks for posting!

[Aden Rich]

There is an aluminum "Tee" that is riveted to the fairing and has a flange that sticks out and that is what get's hose clamped to the gear leg itself. This is at the top. THen when you get the fairings aligned with the aircraft, you are supposed to put some "Great Stuff" foam up inside the fairing at each end. Only about 2" on each end should be enough to hold it in place. If you gear leg is primed and painted, or powder coated, you don't have to worry about moisture corrosion under the foam. Don't put too much foam in there or it won't allow the leg fairing to flex and it break your fairing.

I put stiffners on my gear legs and wrapped with fiberglass. On the larger engine RV's it helps with gear leg splaying out and shimmy. Also keeps the intersection fairing from being shaken apart.

[fixnflyguy]

My fiberglass fairings over stiffeners on my -4 migrated downward for no apparent reason, and after re-setting them a few times I discovered the AFT upper corner of the fairing (where the hinge runs) was contacting the fuselage when the gear flexed AFT. it moves WAY more than you can imagine, often just taxiing. I trimmed mine at an angle from the gear leg down and AFT so it just barely was in the cuff fairing and the problem stopped.

[Vlad]

Pin them to intersection fairings Gary. I used screws now switched to safety wire.
Nice picture on Alton Bay ice btw