Removable wings on RV-7 or RV-9

[diamond]

Has anyone done, or considered, a removable wing mod on the 7 or 9? The 12 has it, but I'm wondering if it is at all feasible to incorporate this in these other RVs.

[gasman]

Not without a CLEAN sheet of paper.

[aviationgeek84]

Newbie here, but from what I've read/understand, the only plane really designed for removeable wings is the -12. I think the other planes are really meant to be left together...

[ChiefPilot]

Originally Posted by diamond

Has anyone done, or considered, a removable wing mod on the 7 or 9? The 12 has it, but I'm wondering if it is at all feasible to incorporate this in these other RVs.

The wings are removable as is, actually. Just pull the close-tolerance bolts in the main spar along with the rear spar bolts, disconnect control connections along with fuel & electrical lines, remove the bolt at the tank attach bracket, and remove the wings. To connect them, simply do the above in reverse. It couldn't be easier!

[diamond]

Originally Posted by ChiefPilot

The wings are removable as is, actually. Just pull the close-tolerance bolts in the main spar along with the rear spar bolts, disconnect control connections along with fuel & electrical lines, remove the bolt at the tank attach bracket, and remove the wings. To connect them, simply do the above in reverse. It couldn't be easier!

How much time would this require? How commonly is this done and what are typical reasons for doing this?

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by diamond

How much time would this require? How commonly is this done and what are typical reasons for doing this?

I think that was a joke. It takes a couple of days to put the wings on (including wiring, plumbing etc...) - maybe a day if you are fast. Also, the close tolerance bolts are 'single use' and I wouldn't want to gall the aluminum by replacing the bolts too many times.

When asked about removing my wings, my response is "the wings on my RV will only be removed by two appropriately placed trees".

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by diamond

How much time would this require? How commonly is this done and what are typical reasons for doing this?

Three or four hours each way, and that's if you have a helper. Keep an air chisel handy to remove the bolts, and a freezer to shrink them to get them in.

In reality, it's not commonly done, and usually to remove a damaged RV from somewhere. Some of these bolts are a true pain to get to....

L.Adamson --- RV6A... where the number of bolts are even worse

[lufthans.nl]

Just last week, I was helping taking an RV-4 apart to put it in a container. Mark worked on the wing removal, I took off the tail surfaces, disconnected the fuel lines, removed fairings, etc.

It took the two of us about four to five hours to do this.

Of course, the RV4 still has the zillion wing bolts (36?), where the 7 and 9 do with a lot less of them. Not that this matters a lot though. Bottom line: It's too much work to do on a regular basis, and it is easy enough to do maybe two or three times in the life of an aircraft.

FWIW

Hans

[diamond]

OK, after reading the posts here, I just want to revisit this issue one more time. I fully realize the RV 7 and 9 are not designed for routine wing removal. For those of you who have built one of these planes, is there anything that can be modified in the construction that would make the wings any easier to remove than the 4+ hours quoted in this thread? I don't mean major design mods that would make it as easy as a RV-12, but more subtle changes that would cut the removal time down to say 1 hour or less. I really want an RV that I can trailer several times a year, but have ruled out the RV-12 because I need more speed, more range, and a tail dragger.

Thanks

[Mel]

Without a MAJOR redesign, there is no way to do this without greatly compromising the strength of the aircraft.