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New Speed mod for RV10 (NOT)

7DeltaLima

Well Known Member
I was playing taxi service last week by flying down to KSAV (Savannah, GA) to pick up my son in order for him to be home mid-week to coach my grandson's baseball game. (I know, first world problem...) I made a nice landing runway 19 at KSAV and taxied over to SheltAir to pick up my son. There was a Delta flight holding short for me to land so I didn't dawdle on the runway but also wasn't a high speed taxi either. I felt a few bumps but attributed it to the commercial jets coming and going, fast braking, etc that had the runway less than smooth. In fact, rwy 19 had been notamed out of service earlier in the day as they were doing some maintenance on the runway.

After exiting the runway and the first Delta jet departed, I heard ground trying to find an airport service truck to go out to the runway to pickup a cone on 19??? I hadn't seen a cone but didn't impact me so just continued on to Sheltair. When I parked at SheltAir, the line guys immediately started asking about the nose wheel pant.... what happened, when it happened, sharing that a local Cirrus had the same problem, etc. I had no clue what they were talking about until I got everything shut down and stepped out to have a look. This is what I saw....

IMG_3508%20%281%29-X3.jpg



It turns out the "the cone" that was in the middle of the runway had the same paint scheme as my plane.

IMG_3518-X3.jpg



I've never seen a wheel pant peel off like this one. Glad it did as there is no apparent speed loss nor directional control issues at all.

(btw -- the folks at SheltAir were great. No fees for stopping and going (maybe a $15 RON) and didn't attempt to sell fuel. Line guys volunteered to try to chase down the airport crew to get my "cone" back. They actually came running up to the plane with the cone as we were getting ready to leave.)

I went back to KSAV the next morning to drop my son off so he could go back to work. RWY 19 was again notamed out of service and they had service trucks on the runway doing repairs. I have no idea if I picked up a loose tool on the runway the previous day or what...

Yesterday, I flew over to KMSL to visit my brother and the manager who I know well came up and asked me about my new "speed mod :) ) He told me all the RVer's were always looking for new mod's but this was the first time he'd seen this one.

Moral of the story -- Stuff happens.....Paint your wheel pants one solid color not the 4 color PIA that I did. The new one will likely be one color. I think I read here sometime ago where Paul Dye said to paint them a Rustolem color so they'd be easy to match. I noticed on the beautiful RV14 that was posted here yesterday, solid color wheel pants. Guess this isn't their first rodeo.
 
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SNIP…

Moral of the story -- Stuff happens.....Paint your wheel pants one solid color not the 3 color PIA that I did. The new one will likely be one color. I think I read here sometime ago where Paul Dye said to paint them a Rustolem color so they'd be easy to match. I noticed on the beautiful RV14 that was posted here yesterday, solid color wheel pants. Guess this isn't their first rodeo.

Yep - a new owner of my RV-10 broke the nose wheel pant in half shortly after buying the plane. I suspect pilot error, but fixed it anyway (just bought a new pant from Van’s).

Your point of having just one color on the wheel pants is exactly on target. This is the only way to go as even if you don’t break the pant it will need refurbishment at some point. A single color simplifies the process.

Carl
 
Likely the result of some pretty severe nose wheel shimmy.

Checking the balance of the nose wheel assembly, nose fork pivot friction and play in pivot points of the nose gear leg would be a good idea.
 
My uncle did that to my 9A on his first landing attempt in the airplane - stalled it from about 2' high and dropped it hard enough to leave witness marks on the nose gear leg from the AntiSplat brace, and left half the nose wheel pant on the runway. It happens.
 
One color, No way, wheel pants can make or break the paint job!
18 yrs ZERO issues, I think the key is mount them a little high with plenty of tire/ground clearance.
(No idea why picture get flipped)
i-bN6PZGt-L.jpg


Notice how high I have the nose wheel pant.
i-bGzhrpD-L.jpg
 

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I’m in the 4 color camp! I agree with Walt. The wheel pants often give the paint job some flair. And yes, I have had to do repairs. They just go back to the paint shop. No way I would go with a solid color with my paint scheme!
 

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Hey Jerry, Blew up your picture, and noticed the little trap door. That's for putting in air, right?? Do you have caps on your air valves, and if so, can you get your hand in there, to unscrew them?? I've just got holes in my wheel pants, which means I can't put caps on. I just gave up, and now take the whole wheel pants off when I need air.
 
Hey Jerry, Blew up your picture, and noticed the little trap door. That's for putting in air, right?? Do you have caps on your air valves, and if so, can you get your hand in there, to unscrew them?? I've just got holes in my wheel pants, which means I can't put caps on. I just gave up, and now take the whole wheel pants off when I need air.

Continuing a bit of thread drift. I found metal valve stem caps that are hex shaped. I can just stick a socket in and screw on/off the caps through a small hole that I add air through.
https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...s=eto:4511645296113780975_0,cdl:1,prmr:1,cs:1
 
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I'm in exactly the same position with myRV9A nosewheel spat, the cracking is almost identical to this. new rear section arrived from Vans yesterday so weekend will be spent fettling and then painting new. Good clearances seem to be the order of the day to prevent future disasters.
 
Hey Jerry, Blew up your picture, and noticed the little trap door. That's for putting in air, right?? Do you have caps on your air valves, and if so, can you get your hand in there, to unscrew them?? I've just got holes in my wheel pants, which means I can't put caps on. I just gave up, and now take the whole wheel pants off when I need air.

I use a 3/8” nut driver to remove the cap and a valve stem extension to put air in. No need to put your fingers in there.

The hatch is of my own design, born from frustration with button caps, spring loaded doors, and etc.

And yes, the hatch has 4 colors too!
 

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Hey Jerry, Blew up your picture, and noticed the little trap door. That's for putting in air, right?? Do you have caps on your air valves, and if so, can you get your hand in there, to unscrew them?? I've just got holes in my wheel pants, which means I can't put caps on. I just gave up, and now take the whole wheel pants off when I need air.

My wheel pants have a 1” hole in line with the valve stem that I plug with a flush plastic cap plug from Home Depot that I paint to match the pant. I remove the hex valve stem cap with about a 4” piece of black fuel line hose that fits snugly over the valve stem cap, maybe 1/4” ID - not sure. Twists off easily and stays in the hose for reinstalling it.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-in-Nylon-Locking-Hole-Plug-808168/204225716
 
Neat Phil, But they look a bit "weighty or heavy" in the picture. You notice anything that feels slightly out of balance when you takeoff or land??:rolleyes:

No as I make sure valve is positioned at light point on tire and then do a tire balance. I use a balancer similar to what a recent thread showed how to make a cheap do it yourself one.
 
Why the perceived need for valve stem caps?

I simply leave them off and air the tires through a hole in the pant with a straight-on air chuck. The pants come off for every condition inspection but almost never any other time.

I'm genuinely curious about the benefit of caps - they won't hold air in a leaking stem valve in my experience.
 
Why the perceived need for valve stem caps?

I simply leave them off and air the tires through a hole in the pant with a straight-on air chuck. The pants come off for every condition inspection but almost never any other time.

I'm genuinely curious about the benefit of caps - they won't hold air in a leaking stem valve in my experience.

Hi Bill, The most plausible explanation I've heard is that if moisture enters the valve stem and freezes, the expanding ice may push the valve pin down thereby opening the valve seat. If the ice melts unevenly air could slowly escape before all the ice gets out from under the seat. How likely this is to happen... probably not very, but I'd rather not deal with the consequences of landing with a low tire if I can take such a simple precaution to avoid it. Another thought is that any dust or dirt picked up in the opening may get pushed into the seat when you add air. Probably of no consequence unless the grit is big enough not to pass completely through the valve and wedges in the seat holding it open when you remove the air chuck??
 
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