Scott Hersha
Well Known Member
I finished my annual condition inspection on my RV8 yesterday, and I've stopped bleeding. The bruises will take a while to heal though. I'm talking about injuries inflicted on my hands, arms, and torso while attempting to check torque on the landing gear bolts located in the practically inaccessible corners of the gear towers. But, I'm happy to say, NEVER AGAIN! No, I'm not selling my RV8. I have instead modified those nasty bolts by just turning them around, with the nut on the bottom. BUT - you say - 'you still have to put a wrench on the bolt head to check torque on the nut down below!' Not so fast grasshopper.... not If you have the handy-dandy bolt-holders designed by fellow two time local RV8 builder Bruce Brielmaier. It is essentially a U-shaped receptacle that captures the bolt head on the flats, and prevents it from turning when installed in the RV8 landing gear weldment. I'll try to upload pics to show how it works, but I think you get the idea. These metal receptacles are made out of chromoly steel and have one side of the clip longer than the other. This part either bumps up against a #10 bolt/nut in the weldment, or the edge of the weldment channel, depending on which way it is try to turn while torquing, preventing that from happening. I now torque these rascals from the bottom, all by myself, in maybe 40 seconds. No more bleeding, bruising, and gnashing of teeth. The exposed bolt/nut on the bottom protrudes slightly lower than the bolt head did, but I've never seen an upper intersection fairing that wouldn't easily cover this up.
If you are building your RV8, this would be a good time to install these little jewels. If you've been flying for a while, like me, and want to do the mod, there are a couple things/tricks you should know about first. The first thing is, these bolts don't just slip right out when you take the nut off. They have to be coaxed. I first tried to tap on the bolt with a couple ratchet wrench extensions stuck together and a hammer. This was difficult on the forward bolt, but I got it done. It is impossible on the back bolt for a couple reasons. You do this one bolt at a time with the airplane standing on its gear. Take the bolt out and then reinstall it the other way around and torque it before moving on to the next (aft) bolt. The bolt doesn't just slip back in either - it needs a little help. The aft bolt is more difficult because of lack of visibility, and because the fuel vent line is in the way right above it. When I torqued this one in the past, I had to remove the B-nut on this line and get it out of the way in order to get the universal socket with extension down on the nut. Now, when you go to put the bolt back in from the top, the AN4 bulkhead fitting is also in the way because you need to 'coax' it down into it's hole and that fitting is in the way. There's also a #10 screw/nut just above it that has to be contended with by making sure a flat on the bolt is just in the right position to let it pass by on its way down into the hole. Here's how to tap these bolts out and then back in easily. Use a double offset rivet set in your rivet gun - set at low pressure. It doesn't take a huge amount of force, just a little help. It's a good idea to have a 9/16 stubby open end wrench handy to line up the bolt head flats with the bolt-holder receptacle. This receptacle has to be set in position before inserting the bolt. This part is pretty easy to do.
Now that I've done it and know what to do, I could probably do all 4 bolts in an hours time. First time, I spent 1 1/2 hours on the aft left bolt alone. Bulkhead fitting removed, plus rivet gun instead of hammer saved tons of time.
I'll never have to do this again, and my condition inspection will no longer involve trauma. This issue has created the common modification to the holes in our gear leg towers, and is the only reason I can think of for putting a nose wheel on a beautiful RV8.
If you are building your RV8, this would be a good time to install these little jewels. If you've been flying for a while, like me, and want to do the mod, there are a couple things/tricks you should know about first. The first thing is, these bolts don't just slip right out when you take the nut off. They have to be coaxed. I first tried to tap on the bolt with a couple ratchet wrench extensions stuck together and a hammer. This was difficult on the forward bolt, but I got it done. It is impossible on the back bolt for a couple reasons. You do this one bolt at a time with the airplane standing on its gear. Take the bolt out and then reinstall it the other way around and torque it before moving on to the next (aft) bolt. The bolt doesn't just slip back in either - it needs a little help. The aft bolt is more difficult because of lack of visibility, and because the fuel vent line is in the way right above it. When I torqued this one in the past, I had to remove the B-nut on this line and get it out of the way in order to get the universal socket with extension down on the nut. Now, when you go to put the bolt back in from the top, the AN4 bulkhead fitting is also in the way because you need to 'coax' it down into it's hole and that fitting is in the way. There's also a #10 screw/nut just above it that has to be contended with by making sure a flat on the bolt is just in the right position to let it pass by on its way down into the hole. Here's how to tap these bolts out and then back in easily. Use a double offset rivet set in your rivet gun - set at low pressure. It doesn't take a huge amount of force, just a little help. It's a good idea to have a 9/16 stubby open end wrench handy to line up the bolt head flats with the bolt-holder receptacle. This receptacle has to be set in position before inserting the bolt. This part is pretty easy to do.
Now that I've done it and know what to do, I could probably do all 4 bolts in an hours time. First time, I spent 1 1/2 hours on the aft left bolt alone. Bulkhead fitting removed, plus rivet gun instead of hammer saved tons of time.
I'll never have to do this again, and my condition inspection will no longer involve trauma. This issue has created the common modification to the holes in our gear leg towers, and is the only reason I can think of for putting a nose wheel on a beautiful RV8.
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