Recommended Gap-Nose wheel to wheel pant

Pmerems · #1 02-20-2010, 05:28 PM

Gents,

I am doing some final trimming of my nose gear wheel pant and leg fairing. I wanted to get recommendations on the appropriate gap from those who have been flying their RV-6A/7A/8A's and have lots of landings (good and bad ones).

1. What is the recommend gap between side lip of the nose wheel pant and the side of the tire?

2. What is the recommend gap between front and back lip of the nose wheel pant and the tire?

3. What is the recommend gap between the wheel pant and the leg fairing. Plans call for 3/16" but that seems a bit to small when the nose gear flexes.

Thanks for your help.

trib · #2 02-20-2010, 07:52 PM

The advice given to me which has worked (no rubbing) is that you should be able to run your finger between the tire and the fairing. I'd say this is probably about 1/2". As far as between the wheel fairing and leg fairing, This is very small, about 1/8" on mine. There really is very little flex here. The flex occurs along the length of the gear leg. Of course the clearance should exist when the airplane is sitting on the gear, i.e. in the weighted condition.

Ralph Inkster · #3 02-20-2010, 09:12 PM

1/2" or a bit more gap adjacent to the tires, plan for the day that tire goes flat. Also the larger gap offers a bit more air circulation for brake cooling.

Ralph Inkster
RV-7A C-GMMJ 650+hrs

plehrke · #4 02-21-2010, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trib

The advice given to me which has worked (no rubbing) is that you should be able to run your finger between the tire and the fairing. I'd say this is probably about 1/2". As far as between the wheel fairing and leg fairing, This is very small, about 1/8" on mine. There really is very little flex here. The flex occurs along the length of the gear leg. Of course the clearance should exist when the airplane is sitting on the gear, i.e. in the weighted condition.

I agree. Finger width and 1/8". 350 hours and no issues.
For the mains you may need to plan for more if you are using the Trainer Tires that come with the kit. They have much rounder corners. Once they wear out (with in a few hundred hours) you will want to upgrade to better tires that have much broader corners and will require making the wheel pant opening bigger.