Failure of Nose Gear (now with bolt pics)

[BSwayze]

Originally Posted by Rootski

A next-best-alternative recommendation to the high degree-of-difficulty of the taper pin solution: if the bolt holes are indeed enlarged (and I'll bet my bottom dollar they are) ream them out to accept the next-highest AN bolt gauge, likely an AN6 or AN7 depending on the condition of the holes, and take care to make sure your bolt is long enough that the threads aren't captive. A straightforward solution providing some extra material for sheer and fatigue strength.

A number of us, including myself, have installed the tapered pin. I'm not sure it's fair to characterize it as any more difficult than reaming the hole and installing a new close-tolerance bolt. It seems to me that the tapered pin offers many advantages, if you think about it and evaluate it carefully yourself.

Here's a thread in the forums discussing the topic in more detail, for anyone who may not have seen it:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...d.php?t=105870

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by jrs14855

NAS bolts are 180,000 psi strength compared to 125,000 for AN bolts.
The only NAS bolts I had available to measure were 3/16 diameter and measured .189 or .0015 over the nominal size.
Except for the NAS, the AN3 bolts were the closest to the nominal size.
As the diameter of the AN bolt increases, apparently the manufacturing errors increase. The AN 5's ironically were the worst, some with slight taper, some with substantial taper immediately adjacent to the thread. They were consistently up to .0025 under the nominal size.

Your numbers seem to meet the specifications

The AN5 diameter is 0.309 to 0.312 inches

The NAS bolts are much better - 0.3110 to 0.3120 if cad. plated.