RV8 Mid longerons

In my rebuild, I removed the mid longerons (F-888 R&L). They have a curve in them. They appear straight in the drawings and in the stock photo from Vans.

Last post I can find about this was from 2007 where the posters spoke about straightening the curve and taking a preload off by removing the slight curve.

No mention in the instructions about bending or straightening. I’m assuming that Vans has improved their manufacturing process and what you get is what you install since no mention of modification.

Would someone who is building look at theirs and tell me if the uninstalled piece is straight. Or if you remember installing, what yours was like.

I can safely say all the longerons I got from Vans are straight. There’s no curve in any of them. They were delivered in 2020.

Thanks. These will need to be replaced for other reasons.

Which brings up another question. I have plenty of 0.125” stock on hand. Standard are 0.063”. Is there any reason not to use what’s on hand other than the replacement is prepunched?

Note to self. Just buy the part and save several hours to work on something else instead of making the replacement.

Can it be done with heavier stock, yes. However the bulkhead joggles have to be modified so the skin will sit flush on the bulkhead ribs.

One thing I did learn is the old right longeron had to be used for a drill guide for the new left one and visa versa.

I was a bit penny wise and pound foolish with my time however my excuse is I just wanted to install a aft fuselage strengthening mod since it’s a taildragger.

Haven't heard that the aft fuselage needed strengthening....

Dave

David Paule said:

Haven't heard that the aft fuselage needed strengthening....

Dave

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It doesn’t. Note sarcasm…..directed at moi.

I didn’t like to point out that both longerons are $30 total!
For fuselage strengthening have a look at this:

https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sl-00014/

I was making a joke about strengthening and poking fun at myself about taking time to make a parts that cost $30 and another $30 to ship.

It was like Gilligan’s Island. What I thought was going to be a short trip turned into an adventure with modifying the 3 bulkheads to accommodate the thicker stock.

On the bright side, I learned a few things, saved a few bucks, didn’t have to wait for 10 days to get the parts. The weather was perfect and the garage door was open with plenty of sunshine. All this and it only cost me a few hours of my retired time.

And afterwards, I got to put up my feet, enjoy some 14yo scotch and a good cigar while reading the posts. Life is good.

Thanks for the reminder about the service letter. Very timely and perhaps it will help some others that are not aware.

Oh, did I say it was strengthened…….

Jonnyb said:

I didn’t like to point out that both longerons are $30 total!
For fuselage strengthening have a look at this:

https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sl-00014/

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The part is cheap, but shipping is a killer. It's a 15 ft piece. UPS/Fedex won't handle this so it has to go freight. Vans ships these with the wing kit to save money since they are already sending a long crate for the wing spars. My wing kit came with a notice warning you to be careful with them because shipping is expensive.

bob865 said:

The part is cheap, but shipping is a killer. It's a 15 ft piece. UPS/Fedex won't handle this so it has to go freight. Vans ships these with the wing kit to save money since they are already sending a long crate for the wing spars. My wing kit came with a notice warning you to be careful with them because shipping is expensive.

Click to expand...

The longerons you are referring to are the upper longerons and to ship those to me was quoted between 900 and 1,200 smackaroos. I was able to purchase two 25’ pieces from a local metal supplier for about a $100 since the first builder messed those up and they had to be replaced. Vans called me about the shipping cost which was nice and gave me a chance to outsource a supplier.

The mid longerons are around 4.5’ in length. I was left with 2 nice pieces of 0.125 stock from the leftover upper longerons which is why I decided to roll my own mid longerons. If I didn’t have the old ones to use for a drilling guide, I would not have made them.