Nose gear leg fairing - broken tap

[Baron71]

Here we go. In the attempt of tapping the screw mount for the nose gear steering I accidentally broke off the 8/32 tap. Unfortunately, the tap broke right at the surface, so that I saw no way of removing it.
Since the fairing certainly needs a screw on the left and on the right side, I drilled and tapped another hole about an inch higher (see picture attached).
I currently do not think that this affects nose gear leg stability (this is the replacement leg 1201-1, so after the SB-19-08-26).
Still I would like your opinions:
- Do you think the second hole significantly affects the stability of the strut?
- And if so, should I have someone knowledgeable weld a seam over it! (A new nose gear leg is currently not available at vans).
- If not, could I move the hole on the other side up as well to make them symmetrical? Likely no one will notice the difference, as on could only see both side simultaneously from the very front. And I could easily fill the old hole with a screw unnoticed unter the fairing.

- Michael

 

[dbhill916]

Here we go. In the attempt of tapping the screw mount for the nose gear steering I accidentally broke off the 8/32 tap. Unfortunately, the tap broke right at the surface, so that I saw no way of removing it.
Since the fairing certainly needs a screw on the left and on the right side, I drilled and tapped another hole about an inch higher (see picture attached).
I currently do not think that this affects nose gear leg stability (this is the replacement leg 1201-1, so after the SB-19-08-26).
Still I would like your opinions:
- Do you think the second hole significantly affects the stability of the strut?
- And if so, should I have someone knowledgeable weld a seam over it! (A new nose gear leg is currently not available at vans).
- If not, could I move the hole on the other side up as well to make them symmetrical? Likely no one will notice the difference, as on could only see both side simultaneously from the very front. And I could easily fill the old hole with a screw unnoticed unter the fairing.

- Michael

Been there, done that. The remains of my original tap have not interfered with 450 hr of flying. You are correct. No one (not even you) will notice the asymmetric placement of the screws. If they do, just keep a straight face and tell them it's supposed to be that way to prevent circular vortices from forming downstream of the fairing and interfering with yaw stability. (Feel free to make up your own pseudo-jargon when the muses inspire you.)

 

[N8DAV8R]

No one (not even you) will notice the asymmetric placement of the screws. If they do, just keep a straight face and tell them it's supposed to be that way to prevent circular vortices from forming downstream of the fairing and interfering with yaw stability.

I didn't even break a tap, I just got my screw holes a little misaligned.

Anyway, I don't even run that fairing. It's all trimmed, mounted, and painted but just seems like extra work any time I R/R the fairings.

 

[jask]

McMaster sells some tap removal tools. Use tapping fluid to help.

 

[whity1231$]

When the new nose wheel leg first came out, some people posted here that they chose not to drill their new leg and use different attachments (I think Adel clamps, etc.) I didn’t because the faring make taking the bottom cowl off and on a pain and I didn’t want to take a chance in weakening my new installed leg, even though Van’s said it wouldn’t.

 

[Baron71]

McMaster sells some tap removal tools. Use tapping fluid to help.

Thanks, I will try to research this. Might come handy in the future. For now, I would likely just fill the tread with a screw instead of the tap, if I could remove it.

 

[Baron71]

When the new nose wheel leg first came out, some people posted here that they chose not to drill their new leg and use different attachments (I think Adel clamps, etc.) I didn’t because the faring make taking the bottom cowl off and on a pain and I didn’t want to take a chance in weakening my new installed leg, even though Van’s said it wouldn’t.

That was what I was afraid of at first. But if I understood the service bulletin SB 19-08-26 correctly, the nose gear leg failed only on one RV-12 after 1700 fh and at a different spot than the holes for the fairing. The SB talks about that the leg broke where tube met the lower attachment bracket, at a point where fatigue could not be seen. The sides can easily be inspected, e.g. during a 100 h inspection or an annual. I therefore, don’t consider this an issue for me.