Wheel Pant Algnment

[lr172]

I installed my wheel pants last week and aligning the leg fairings today. While leveling the strings, I doubled checked the wheel pants. It looks like one of the pants is is off by about an 1/8" in the alignment to center line. The back is 1/4" closer to the center line than the front of pant. That seems difficult to move and I'm wondering if this degree of off center is significant enough to attempt an adjustment. It seemed from the manual that the alignment of the leg fairing was more critical to yawing motion.

I would appreciate advice from those that have seen the effect from this type of mis-alignment.

Thanks,

Larry

[Mel]

Wheel pant alignment will definitely affect yaw on an RV. A little goes a long way. If you cannot correct wheel pant alignment, you will probably need a rudder tab.
Gear leg fairing alignment is also critical.

[lr172]

How do you find the horizontal center of the front half of wheel pant. I did it by eye and used that mark. I just found that this front mark is not level with the back center of the tail. It is off by 1/2". If I measure up 9.5" from both front and back, the pant centerline is perfectly aligned. I think this means that the pant is aligned with the stream. This alignment is tough, due to the vertical angle.

Larry

[crabandy]

I measured halfway on the trailing edge of the pant and drilled a small hole for the center of the rear half. I stuck a string through the hole, assembled the front half to the wheelpant and hung the assembly upside down. I added a spoonful of water (just enough to make a small pool in the nose 1/4-1/2 inch diameter) inside the nose piece, stopped it from swinging as much as possible and let everything alone for 30 minutes. When I came back I had a little circle of water in the nose of the pant, I put a dot at the circle of water's center and used that for the center of the nose piece. Not my idea I stole it from someone else on VAF.
I drilled a hole in the center point for the nose part of the pant as well. I cut 1X8 scrap wooden squares with center lines to coincide with the center lines of the floor and wheelpant. I measured up from the floor the same distance on all four pieces and drilled an undersized hole in the board. I tapped a nail through the board into the center hole and inserted the nail in thefront and back on the wheel pant. This assembly held things in place and made measuring much easier and took almost no time to make.
Good Luck!

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by crabandy

I measured halfway on the trailing edge of the pant and drilled a small hole for the center of the rear half. I stuck a string through the hole, assembled the front half to the wheelpant and hung the assembly upside down. I added a spoonful of water (just enough to make a small pool in the nose 1/4-1/2 inch diameter) inside the nose piece, stopped it from swinging as much as possible and let everything alone for 30 minutes. When I came back I had a little circle of water in the nose of the pant, I put a dot at the circle of water's center and used that for the center of the nose piece. Not my idea I stole it from someone else on VAF.
I drilled a hole in the center point for the nose part of the pant as well. I cut 1X8 scrap wooden squares with center lines to coincide with the center lines of the floor and wheelpant. I measured up from the floor the same distance on all four pieces and drilled an undersized hole in the board. I tapped a nail through the board into the center hole and inserted the nail in thefront and back on the wheel pant. This assembly held things in place and made measuring much easier and took almost no time to make.
Good Luck!

Good idea, but this process wont find the true leading edge. It is relying on on the mass of the wheel pant being symmetrical , but it's not because of the big cutout for the tire.

[lr172]

If I follow the vertical angle of the pant, I think I should be measuring from the ground up the angle and check against fuse centerline at a consistent height on this angle I think that will give me my centerline alignment, which happens to be good with this method. I may be tilted high/low slightly, but it seems the pant would only significant affect the yaw access, as it has a little rudder, but no elevator appendage.

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by rvbuilder2002

Good idea, but this process wont find the true leading edge. It is relying on on the mass of the wheel pant being symmetrical , but it's not because of the big cutout for the tire.

Ok, so how do you find it?