T

t4tango

Member
Hi everyone,

i'm looking for assistance with replacing some gear leg fairings and specifically how they are secured to the gear leg rods. Looking at the builders manual, it's not too clear how to get a good result and I suspect the original,builder also had the same problem. Does anyone have any suggested approach or modifications that have worked well, photos would be great and any advice as always much appreciated.

Cheers

Tim
 
IIRC the plans call for you to glass an aluminum tab on the top and then wrap a hose clamp around the tab and gear leg.

This works well until you fly it. Then the tab breaks or just slides down. I'd just build them long enough where if they slide down it doesn't expose any of the gear at the top. Good top and lower fairings will keep them straight.

In other words... they float top to bottom but the intersection fairings keep them from twisting.

IMG_1480.JPG
 
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On my -4

Mine are mounted as per the photo in the above post, but what I found is the "aft" portion will contact the fuselage skin when the gear flexes on landing causing the fairing to slide in the clamp and slightly dimple the skin. You dont see it at first because its hidden by the upper intersection fairing, until its removed. My fix was to trim the leg fairing down at an angle so it has room to flex aft/up without hitting the skin. Other than that, the clamp is all the holds them in place.
 
I have seen some RVs with some type of expandable foam in the top and bottom of the fairing to hold it in place.
 
Top fairing is sufficient to hold that end, but recommended a cushioned hose clamp on the bottom to allow you to fly with the fairings on and the wheel pants off if you desire to operate in that configuration.

I'm not a fan of foam or other semi-permanent attachments as I prefer to be able to remove the fairings easily (personal preference only--worth every bit of 2 cents!).

Cheers,

Vac
 
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Removeable Fairings

I secured my fairings using the top and bottom intersection fairings. The top intersection fairing are screwed to the bottom of the cowl and to the bottom of the fuselage and to the gear leg fairing. The bottom intersection fairing is secured to the wheel pants and then screwed to the gear leg fairing. It is easy to remove just by taking out the screws.
 
Hold it right there...

t4tango said:
Hi everyone, I'm looking for assistance with replacing some gear leg fairings and specifically how they are secured to the gear leg rods. Looking at the builders manual, it's not too clear how to get a good result and I suspect the original,builder also had the same problem. Does anyone have any suggested approach or modifications that have worked well, photos would be great and any advice as always much appreciated.Cheers Tim
Click to expand...

Tim,
I operated my RV4 off my rough turf strip for over 1000 hours and had many fairing mods over that time. I tried expandable foam, stiffeners, hose clamps and even structural epoxy.
The best solution for me was to extend the hinge wire on the fairing's trailing edge up into the fuselage through a small hole. This works very well in all conditions. My wheel pants have intersection fairings built in which help stabilize as well. I use this currently on my RV-X as well.
I wrap my gear legs with electrical bundling tape which doesn't leave a residue and keeps my steel braided brake lines from chaffing the glass. I don't use stiffeners any more as I found they transfer the gear loads to the mount and not through the gear itself. Foam works good for a season but eventually you will have to remove the fairing and it makes a big mess. Fairings etc upper intersection fairings attached with "riv-nuts" in the lower cowling are my favorite...

V/R
Smokey
 
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