James wheel pants ? heads up ?

[Larry DeCamp]

Fitting the wheel pants on my RV4 with Desser 500x5 retreads. Full disclosure, Sam has been helpfull in a couple phone cons and nothing negative here.
The outboard + for the axle bolt was too high on the front glass half. It must be lower for tire clearance on the fairing. The .125 brackets ( pattern in instructions ) did not work for me so I made customs from .063 similar to Vans. Hope this saves someone grief 😊

[BillL]

Originally Posted by Larry DeCamp

Fitting the wheel pants on my RV4 with Desser 500x5 retreads. Full disclosure, Sam has been helpfull in a couple phone cons and nothing negative here.
The outboard + for the axle bolt was too high on the front glass half. It must be lower for tire clearance on the fairing. The .125 brackets ( pattern in instructions ) did not work for me so I made customs from .063 similar to Vans. Hope this saves someone grief 😊

Making per plans is difficult to bend at home. The Vans brackets will save weight too, good move, wish I had done that, (and might yet). Good to hear Sam was helpful.

[rv7charlie]

edit: see correction in later post.


Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :-)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie

[BillL]

Originally Posted by rv7charlie

Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :-)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie

Charlie, did you make your stainless bracket the same shape as the SJ plans?

[Kyle Boatright]

Originally Posted by rv7charlie

Check in again in a few hundred hours of flight time, after you replace the cracked stock aluminum material with stainless sheet or 1/8" aluminum. :-)

I replaced them on my -4 with stainless sheet several hundred hours ago. The mounts in my -7 kit seem to be a bit heavier than the original parts on my -4.

Charlie

Mine are out of .080, and were built per Sam's sketches. No problems after 1100 hours.

[rv7charlie]

My bad; I should have been clearer, & I mis-read the posts. I thought the OP was using or copying Van's original brackets for the original wheel pants. I have the original pants, & replaced the original brackets with stainless copies. I used some stainless I had on hand; it's probably around 0.060" thick.

Sorry for the confusion,

Charlie

[Larry DeCamp]

Comforting to hear I am not the only one with issues. Regarding strength, I should clarify I laminated two layers of 063 AL around the axle bracket with 3M 2216 and rivets. The longer 063 piece extends out for 8-32 nut plates to support the glass pants. The laminated .125 area has some lightening holes. If we dont get 1,000 hours I will replace with SS 😏

[rv7charlie]

I've never used that epoxy, so I looked it up. No doubt it works fine when applied by humble humans like us, but did you read the recommended surface prep for aluminum? :-)
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/...e-2216-b-a.pdf

[Larry DeCamp]

Thanks Charlie.
I just used the 2216 to hold the parts together for fab AND fill voids from future potential corrosion. The 1/8" rivets do the heavy lifting. I just scuff and clean with acetone for my level of expectations.
Larry