T

t4tango

Member
As a newbie to this site, I would appreciate any advice out there for wing removal having acquired an RV-4 that needs to be transported by road for some repairs. The builder (or a past assembler) used pop rivets to secure the aft wing fairings (looks like large aluminium angles) to both wing and fuselage - I'm thinking use the tin snips and replace later - this would make it easier to take the pop rivets out most of which are 'blind'. Also, it looks to be easier to ease the wings out if the fuselage is at a flying attitude than tail down - is that right? Any other tips gratefully received.

Thanks
 
Rv-4 wing removal

Hi , My wife and i have just removed the wings on our rv-4 and transported it home for a refurb. The whole process was quite easy. After gaining access inside to everything spar bolts ect. We first defueled the aircraft removed wing root fairings. disconnected the flap rods from flap end ,disconnected aileron tubes at control stick , disconnected fuel lines and pitot tube , disconnected nav lights and landing light. I had to punch most of the spar bolts out while my wife wiggled the wing as they are close tollerance. Then the wing just came straight out no worries. We didn't change the aircrafts attitude at all while we did any of this. We then put it on a car trailer had the wings in cradles down each side . We kept the flaps and ailerons intact and just taped them with masking tape so they didn't move too much. Hope this helps. Cheers, Mick (FNQ) Aust.
 
t4tango said:
... - I'm thinking use the tin snips and replace later - this would make it easier to take the pop rivets out most of which are 'blind'...
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I recommend you adopt that approach only as a last resort. Making and installing things like fairings tends to be harder and more time consuming than it looks on the surface. Once you go at it with tin snips, it will distort the part so that it will be much more difficult to duplicate and copy onto new material.

I suggest you first try using a drill to drill the heads off the pop rivets with an eye towards saving the fairings if at all possible. If possible, first poke the stems through the rivets so they don't interfere with drilling.

Use a sharp drill bit one number smaller than the rivet (#31 for 1/8" rivets). Use high speed but light pressure, and if possible apply mechanical pressure to one side of the head with a screwdriver or similar tool to help prevent the rivet from spinning. Don't try to drill all the way through the rivet, only drill deep enough so that you can break the head off using a pin the same size as the drill.

If the rivet does start to spin, you can tap a screwdriver blade against each side of the head to make wrenching flats, and grip those with needle nose pliers or maybe a hemostat.

As a next-to-last resort, you can grind or sand the rivet heads off using a Dremel tool or a die grinder. You will probably scar the surface of the fairing beyond repair, but it will leave the geometry of the part and the hole locations intact so that you can easily duplicate it in new material.

Thanks, and good luck!

Bob K.
 
bkthomps said:
when is drilling out a pop rivet hard?
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When it is stainless steel. And especially when it is stainless steel and starts to spin. And doubly especially when it is stainless steel and starts to spin and you don't have access to the rear to secure it with vise grips....

I built a Sonex, and pulled thousands of stainless steel pop rivets. I became a master at drilling them out, and I can tell you that there were some tough ones...
 
Thanks everyone for your advice - I printed off the step by step guide and thats a great place to start. I chickened out of the pop rivet removal and am having the airfield engineers do it for me so then I will have the wings off this weekend ready for transportation. I also noticed that the pin through the flap hinge is turned adjacent to the aileron hanger - is that right? There would be no way to extract the pin without cutting it and extracting it from beneath the bottom wing overlay? Looking forward to the repair and getting airborne again.

Thanks all, really like the website, videos etc.
 
t4tango said:
Thanks everyone for your advice - I printed off the step by step guide and thats a great place to start. I chickened out of the pop rivet removal and am having the airfield engineers do it for me so then I will have the wings off this weekend ready for transportation. I also noticed that the pin through the flap hinge is turned adjacent to the aileron hanger - is that right? There would be no way to extract the pin without cutting it and extracting it from beneath the bottom wing overlay? Looking forward to the repair and getting airborne again.

Thanks all, really like the website, videos etc.
Click to expand...

After you cut the hinge pin to get it out...:)

Use the later method for securing it. A two piece pin with a couple of the hinge loops removed in the center so the two pieces are insterted from the center outwards.

Just like this picture shamelessly stolen off the web-

20091101_1.jpg
 
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