Weight Off Wheels for Fairing Alignment

[pvalovich]

I've agonized about installing / aligning gear leg fairings and wheel pants for a long time. After discussing with Vans, I came up with a simple way of getting the plane (-8A) off the gear to start the process. Stuff needed:
1. 2 stripped cheapo Harbor Freight engine stands (used to make rotating fuselage stand)
2. Long steel pry bar (covered with old carpet)
3. Support fixture to hold up tail
4. Strong rope - orstrap - long enough to go around fuselage just aft of engine mount (I'm an old Navy cat officer and had an old F-4 bridle rope with loops on each end)
5 Cheapo Harbor Freight crane

Support the rear fuselage; wrap the rope around fuselage aft of engine mount; position crane and attach rope; position an engine stand on each side of fuselage; crank it up high enough to slip pry bar through engine stand holes (doesn't take much raising); lower crane so fuselage rest on covered pry bar - it will level horizantally; adjust rear fuselage support height to level fuselage longitudally (sp).

The method described above provides a stable, permanent raise - not subject to bleed-off of the crane hydraulic pressure.

Install gear leg fairings and use the parallel 3-string method for alignment. A case where measuring takes a lot longer than doing. Now on to the pants! I'll use shims to build up a stand beneath each wheel to provide a reference for vertical measurements.

[Greg Arehart]

I just built two sawhorses slightly shorter than the bottom of the fuselage at the firewall. Put one on either side of the fuselage. Pushed down on the tail to tilt the assembly up in front, and had a helper slip a 4 x 4 across the two sawhorses essentially under the firewall. One can relatively easily slip spacers on either side of the 4 x 4 to level the fuselage laterally. Then put a sturdy table under the tailcone and lifted the tailcone to put spacers on the table so that the fuselage was level longitudinally.

Another alternative is to build the wing jacks that have been described in several threads. I now have a set of these for changing tires etc.

greg