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RV9A wheel pant installation question

ron sterba

Well Known Member
RV9a flying for 2 years.After sanding the pants it seemed to go on forever. Decided to install the front wheel pant first. I jacked up the main tires and slid a 2X6? board under both main tires. This gave me a perfect level left &right and level longitudinal with nose wheel still on the concrete surface. I need to remove the front wheel axle bolt a little because of the pant bracket slides over two of the three washers on each side of the front fork. My question is how do I lift the front of the plane up to take the pressure off the front wheel? Do I place a jack with a 2?X6?X4 foot board under the firewall where the engine mounts attach to the fuselage? Now, The two Allen screw bolts that hold the front pant bracket aren?t ( the bolts you would use for your tow bar pins.) a secure bolt in the fork bracket,either side the bolt screws through the fork. I don?t see a nut being used on the inner side next to the tire and (that would scare me if it did) was wondering how that most forward bracket bolt is secured? Ian not using the Vans wheel bearing but I think they are the bearinger wheel bearing where on one side of the fork is a bolt going through the fork to hold the bearing housing from turning. I think I?ll have to drill a hole through the bracket and secure the bolt Through the bracket to the bearing housing. My annual is due at the end of the mouth and was thinking about checking the grease level in the hub. I have been reading the Vans manual on this whole process. I guess Ian a little skidesh because the plane has been flying great. Your thoughts. RON in Oregon
 
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You can lift the front from the engine hoist point, or pull the tail down via the tail tie-down.
 
I installed a ground point in my hangar where the plane normally park, than I attach a ratchet strap from the ground point to the tail eyebolt. With a ratchet strap I pull the tail down as much as I need. Easy easy. If you can?t Install a ground point you can figure out a ballast weight (barbell plates of 45lbs works great, pick some up on Craigslist or replay stores) than you attach your ratchet strap to that
 
I bought a $15 dolly from HF and 4 concrete blocks for $1.50 each. Topped the dolly with 1/4? plywood and an eyebolt in the middle. Ratchet strap to tail tie down. Lower the noise by removing 1 block. Comes down nicely. Parts are movable and multi-use. Less than $25.
 
Keith and Rico sounds great. You opened up a idea on the tail hook. Found I haven’t tapped the threads on the tail hook yet so that is on my to dos list. Ok you all opened the trail for the next step. HF is close by too! Thanks guys. Ron
 
Another way is to put a small scissor jack directly beneath the big castle nut... slide in a small square of plywood to protect the threads, then jack away. Tire needs to only come up 1/4" off the ground. I used this method to check the break-out force on the nose gear.

I use a setup like Keith's if I need to remove the nose fork completely to clean/regrease the entire assembly.
 
Keith and Rico sounds great. You opened up a idea on the tail hook. Found I haven?t tapped the threads on the tail hook yet so that is on my to dos list. Ok you all opened the trail for the next step. HF is close by too! Thanks guys. Ron
Flying for 2 years and no tail tie down? Van's says to leave the tie down ring in the tail as protection for the fuselage (in case of striking the tail on the ground), not to mention general safety in tying down anywhere you park the aircraft.
 
saw horse

I had a buddy lean on the tail to lift the nose, as I set a saw horse under the firewall. had to add an extra 2 by on the saw horse..worked well..easy.
 
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Van's says to leave the tie down ring in the tail as protection for the fuselage (in case of striking the tail on the ground)

Is this published somewhere, Bruce? This is not one I've seen before.

My tiedown rings live in an on-board tool bag unless actually tying down somewhere.
 
Not Bruce, but I believe I saw the same advice from Scott of Vans in a post here. Makes sense to me; I have seen damage inflicted to a tricycle gear RV during a nose high, aborted landing. A tie down ring in the tail would prevent that.

Erich
 
Is this published somewhere, Bruce? This is not one I've seen before.

My tiedown rings live in an on-board tool bag unless actually tying down somewhere.

I am not sure where in documentation to direct you to look but if you you look at any A model airplanes at fly-ins, or Van's demonstrators you will see a tail tie down ring always installed.

I guess in a way it is a detail that may have been over looked because it is somewhat of a Duh?
Tails of trigear airplanes do occasionally contact the ground for various reasons. If yours ever did, which would you rather hit the ground.... a tail tie down, or your rudder?
 
I am not sure where in documentation to direct you to look but if you you look at any A model airplanes at fly-ins, or Van's demonstrators you will see a tail tie down ring always installed.

I guess in a way it is a detail that may have been over looked because it is somewhat of a Duh?
Tails of trigear airplanes do occasionally contact the ground for various reasons. If yours ever did, which would you rather hit the ground.... a tail tie down, or your rudder?

To answer that question I would need more data. Perhaps you can help.

Is the aft fuselage bulkhead, to which the tie down ring fitting is installed, sized for tail strike loads? Additionally, do we know for sure that the rudder doesn't contact first even with the tie down ring installed, given the geometry involved?

If the ring will indeed hit first, then when it is installed I have less room for error prior to causing structural damage. Plus, a rudder is far easier to replace than the bulkhead.
 
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tail skid/ring

I have had to do a bit of fibreglass repair on the bottom of my rudder.. I sure would like to hear if a ring back there would in fact keep it from rubbing in to high a nose attitude???
 
On my -9A, the bottom rudder cap hits before the tie-down ring. Found this out when two of us where on the steps at the same time!! Only minor scuffing to the fiberglass, fortunately.
 
To answer that question I would need more data. Perhaps you can help.

Is the aft fuselage bulkhead, to which the tie down ring fitting is installed, sized for tail strike loads? Additionally, do we know for sure that the rudder doesn't contact first even with the tie down ring installed, given the geometry involved?

If the ring will indeed hit first, then when it is installed I have less room for error prior to causing structural damage. Plus, a rudder is far easier to replace than the bulkhead.

The aft bulkhead wasn't specifically designed with tail strike as part of the design process but tail wheel loads were. There is some load absorption from the tail spring so it is not a direct correlation, but the current tail tie down design has been flying on 9A's and 7A's for 20+ years now, with a lot of real world testing and abuse. It has proven itself to hold up to repeated tail strikes on the company demonstrator airplanes while doing transition training, etc.

When a rear tail tie down ring gets installed, it typically gets an appropriate sized 3/8 X 16 jam nut installed with it to lock it in place and keep it oriented fore/aft.
On all of the A model RV's that I inspect/maintain, the tie down will contact the runway before the rudder will. This can easily be checked by slowly pushing the tail down to the ground and see what touches first.
 
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