[Captain Avgas]

I'm building an RV7A.

I guess I'm like many RV builders who are building at home in a garage with no possible space to mate the wings to the fuselage.....not even one at a time (actually I don't think I'd WANT to mate them one at a time).

It was my intention to instal the gear legs as my next task and then mount the engine. At some stage I'll transport the aircraft to a hangar at the local airport to mate and mount the wings and finish it off.

The question is: Is it practical to consider mounting the wings with the plane on its landing gear. Once I've got the engine mounted I'd be reluctant to remove the gear legs.

I'd appreciate knowing what others have done when in my situation.

 

[Walt]

Wait ....

I built the entire airplane in the garage and after moving to the hanger I was flying in 30 days. I waited to install the wings until I got to the hanger and feel if you cannot hang both wings simultaniously than you should not do it. Mounting the wings and doing the wing fairings are not that big a deal but need to be done precisely. The final result was other than a tiny bit of a heavy wing the airplane fly's perfectly straight, no rudder trim block or tab needed

 

[Ironflight]

Obviously the -7a's and -8's have completely different gear leg systems Bob, so my experience might not apply, but I also had the gear on for a long time before ever taking the plane to the airport and mounting the wings for the first time. I had no trouble mounting the wings with the gear on.

Paul

 

[Radomir]

Absolutely no problem doing it this way. I did not have enough room in my garage as well...

One thing I'd mention that may help -- when installing close tolerance bolts, put the outboard nuts first on the bottom and torque before installing and torquing inboard ones...

I'm building an RV7A.

The question is: Is it practical to consider mounting the wings with the plane on its landing gear. Once I've got the engine mounted I'd be reluctant to remove the gear legs.

 

[kevinh]

Just another confirmation for ya Bob: I put my engine on at home and never mounted the wings till I got to the airport. Worked great - I just left the wing wiring coiled outside the fuse hanging from duct tape till I got to the airport. Putting the wings on and getting things wired was a few days - even including getting the wingtips on nice and straight.

 

[Captain Avgas]

Thanks for the response guys. I was just a bit concerned that with the flex in the gear legs it might prove difficult to set up accurately for the mating of the wings.

I note in the fabrication manual that when mating the wings Vans calls for the fuselage to be both "laterally and longitudinally level".

I am assuming that with the gear installed the RV7A is unlikely to be both "laterally and longitudinally level". So how did you deal with this. Did you simply "shim" the individual wheel heights ......or did you block up the entire fuselage to level and take the load off the gear altogether (this would certainly eliminate any gear flex problem).

 

[pierre smith]

Jacks

Bob,
We used bottle jacks under the lower two motor mounts at the firewall and rested the tailcone on a blanket on the rear bulkhead. You can raise and lower the jacks to laterally/longitudinally level the airplane. It's OK to have the wheels touching the floor but the jacks keep it motionless while you set the incidence and forward/aft wing sweep.

Good luck,

 

[rvermeland]

Wings before gear possible

Bob,

I have my RV-9A fuselage on a rolling cart. When it was time to rig the wings and tail, I simply rolled it outside on my driveway and followed the instructions. It took about 5 hours to measure, remeasure, etc. and get all the holes drilled. Then I removed all but one wing and rolled it back in the garage to plumb and wire. Repeated for the other wing. I have a small California garage (21'x21') and was able to fit the fuselage with one wing on in the garage, even with all my benches and tools. The -9 has more span than the -7, so if you wanted to do this in the comfort of you home, rather than wait until you move to the hangar, it is possible. Another advantage--the neighbors think you may actually finish this thing!!

-rob
Finishing canopy, playing with gear legs