AlexPeterson
Well Known Member
So, despite (or probably in spite of) all the warnings by those who have fought the nose gear rethreading, Pete H. and I tackled gear leg 1 of 2 today.
See, Pete and I are defective. A bunch of credible people say something is difficult, so we sign up.
First, I mount a 94 pound vise (really) to a 12 foot workbench in the hangar. We start along on the threading, and soon realize that the torque needed simply spins the workbench. Time for plan B. We look around the hangar, and amazingly find an old Army tug. This little tug weighs about 2 tons, and has a nice steel plate over the engine. A couple holes later, and we have a vise equipped tug. Let's see if that will spin around...
The real mystery is how the devil that die can take the torque we applied. Our basic strategy was to advance about a half turn, then back off about a quarter. We tried a number of methods, but that seemed to work the least lousily. With two of us reefing on the Swenson bars (probably have to be from Minnesota to understand this), we show that die who is boss. Pete's dog is trying to cover his ears from the groaning - from the die. Back to the torque - we are each pulling about 100 pounds at a 4 foot radius - 800 ft-lbs. Man, that is one good die (made in Canada, cost about $130 from a local supplier)
Anyway, we won round one (still have Pete's plane to do).
It does appear that temperature tightens the die against the gear, so waiting in between cuts seems to help.
Here is Pete manning the initial die holder handles:
Here is after putting on the persuader bars:
This image shows a little lubricant of another sort:
See, Pete and I are defective. A bunch of credible people say something is difficult, so we sign up.
First, I mount a 94 pound vise (really) to a 12 foot workbench in the hangar. We start along on the threading, and soon realize that the torque needed simply spins the workbench. Time for plan B. We look around the hangar, and amazingly find an old Army tug. This little tug weighs about 2 tons, and has a nice steel plate over the engine. A couple holes later, and we have a vise equipped tug. Let's see if that will spin around...
The real mystery is how the devil that die can take the torque we applied. Our basic strategy was to advance about a half turn, then back off about a quarter. We tried a number of methods, but that seemed to work the least lousily. With two of us reefing on the Swenson bars (probably have to be from Minnesota to understand this), we show that die who is boss. Pete's dog is trying to cover his ears from the groaning - from the die. Back to the torque - we are each pulling about 100 pounds at a 4 foot radius - 800 ft-lbs. Man, that is one good die (made in Canada, cost about $130 from a local supplier)
Anyway, we won round one (still have Pete's plane to do).
It does appear that temperature tightens the die against the gear, so waiting in between cuts seems to help.
Here is Pete manning the initial die holder handles:
Here is after putting on the persuader bars:
This image shows a little lubricant of another sort:
