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dick seiders

Well Known Member
I am not inclined to drill a hole thru the nose gear leg to secure the fairing to it with the #8 screw. I don't like to put holes in such places. I believe I can secure the fairing to the leg as was called for on my 6A (breezeclamp at base of fairing). Probably not necessary to secure top of fairing as hinge will stiffen and hold it in position. If necessary however, (ie; it is easily moveable) I may also use a pc of velchro on the leg at top of fairing. Has anyone else out there dealt with alternatives to the "hole"? If so would appreciate any feedback on your thoughts or methodology used.
Thanks.
Dick Seiders 120093
 
More holes the merrier ;-)

Well, I'm afraid I went the other way, although not by design. First I broke the tap in one of the two holes, and couldn't remove it.

Then, after agreement from Vans, I drilled another hole a couple of inches further up. This time, too big (#19) - how stupid can you get! After further discourse Vans suggested tapping this for a #10 screw as a better option than going for the third hole.

I am now perfecting my nose-up landings ;-)

Cheers...Keith
 
Should not be a problem...

Theoretically, the nose gear leg is a beam in bending. The holes are located on the neutral axis of the beam. There is no stress on the neutral axis ;). This may be too simple an analysis, but I'm trying not to over think it.

Keeping the weight off the nose gear seems to be the recommended practice for all the "A" model RVs, I too am working on perfecting my nose wheel up take-offs and landings :).

Tony
 
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Tony_T said:
Theoretically, the nose gear leg is a beam in bending. The holes are located on the neutral axis of the beam. There is no stress on the neutral axis ;).Tony
Click to expand...

True - although only for bending stress, and then only if you're not skidding sideways off the runway :)
 
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Thanks foir the comments. I am still not inclined to drill and tap leg. Will provide feedback on my method when completed and tested.
Dick Seiders
 
Results

Dick, what was your final results on the nose gear fairing. I'm at the point where the instructions say to drill two holes in the gear leg and I stopped and came to the forum to search for alternate ways. I was thinking of the ring clamp at the bottom but was not sure about the upper end. What did you do?
Thanks, Steve
 
Steve, I did not drill the hole. I did use the breeze clamp at the front base of the fairing (ala RV6A instructions). In addition I wrapped a few loops of window weather stripping around the leg about 4/5 of the way up to support the leg instead of using the called for silicone. Works fine. Took the 12 up today to check for speed improvement and happily it was a good 4 kts. in some very rough air. I suspect in smooth air the gain might be as high as six kts. I am happy with the gain, but unhappy with the costs. Doing the work myself ( fabricate, sand, prime, and paint) total cost around $900 for materials. My memory may be fading, but I would guess the same equipment for my RV6A was about $350 in 2002. Anyway I like them and the 12 does look better with them.
Dick Seiders
 
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