Wheel pant alignment

UnPossible · #1 10-15-2010, 08:46 PM

Hey - before I go ahead and drill the wheel pants, I wanted to check with the experts on VAF to make sure that I'm not screwing anything up.

I've read the driections about a 100 times, but still not 100% sure of exactly how they are telling me to make sure the wheel pants are in alignement with the fuselage. So below are the methods I used... Please let me know if anything looks funny.

1) I used a laser to draw the centerline down the wheel pants.

2) I used a couple of plumb bobs to center the fuselage over a straight expansion joint in the garage floor.

3) I measured up the 8 5/8" off the ground and made a mark on the front and back of the wheel pant on the centerline.

4) I attached a couple of plumb bobs to the points marked above and made sure that they are the same distance (41 3/8") away from the fueslage centerline at both the front and back edge of the wheel pants.

Looking things over, it looks good to my naked eye, but wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything before I drill the pants to the attach brackets.

Thanks,
Jason

Vlad · #2 10-15-2010, 09:06 PM

Looks good to me Jason. And that yellow thing is lined up too

Norman CYYJ · #3 10-15-2010, 09:15 PM

Drill the holes you have them lined up. Just make sure that you have the proper clearance between the top of the tire and the pant.

UnPossible · #4 10-15-2010, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman CYYJ

Drill the holes you have them lined up. Just make sure that you have the proper clearance between the top of the tire and the pant.

I used a 1.25" spacer instead of the 1" that Vans specs as I plan to fly off a grass field... I adjusted the 8 5/8" rear height up by 1/4" as well to account for the pant sitting a bit higher than normal.

Thanks,
Jason

Bevan · #5 10-15-2010, 10:14 PM

I would think that you would want no weight bearing on the landing gear when aligning the wheel pants. Their orientation may be slightly different when airborne than when sitting on the gear. You want them aligned at cruising speed/configuration. No?

Bevan

Flybuddy2 · #6 10-16-2010, 04:54 AM

The ultimate test is to fly both with and without them. Ball should be centered/same in both cases. I had a Velocity and installed a locking nose wheel (permanent solution to shimmy). Laser aligned and the ground tracking was straight, yet on first flight the ball was all the way over. Had to redrill/remount the fairing to get ball centered.

RV7ator · #7 10-16-2010, 06:58 AM

Let the tires hang free of any resistance (like that platform). Otherwise, your set-up looks proper. Might as well install the leg and intersection fairings next to save having to do another set-up. You'll have to work around the fuse supports and shop clutter to run the necessary strings towards the tail. I think the leg fairings affect trim more than the wheel fairings, so make the extra effort to do it right.

If the yellow blob (did you have it painted to match the tape and triangle?) and thingy in the long box get in the way, send them to me.

John Siebold

robertahegy · #8 10-16-2010, 07:32 AM

Yes, Get all three wheels in the air.

Roberta

UnPossible · #9 10-16-2010, 07:33 AM

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the tires are just barely touching the small wooden platforms. You can easily spin each of the tires. I can't imagine that that amount of contact would cause any deflection in the gear legs.

Thanks,
Jason

Mel · #10 10-16-2010, 07:54 AM

It's difficult to get much accuracy measuring that close to the wheel pants. I extended the center line well aft of the aircraft and measured the distance on either side. When you stand behind the fuselage and sight forward down the pant your accuracy will improve greatly.