Drilling Landing Gear to Sideskin

[dwollen89]

Im building a 7A and currently drilling the landing gear to the side skin. How do you backdrill this forward hole? It’s blocked by the bulkhead. Any suggestions?

 

[skelrad]

I just measured over from the aft hole and then started with a small drill size to make sure I hit the hole in the gear tower. As you drill to final size, the bits are going to be guided by the hole in the harder steel, so the hole in the aluminum will self correct to match.

 

[Ralph Inkster]

I drill an access hole through the vertical flange. Than use a 6” drill bit to align the hole through the gear & fuselage structure.

 

[RossK]

I saw a post where someone drilled the rear hole and then fitted the opposite side WD-721 gear mount to the outside, using the rear holes for alignment and used it as a template to drill the forward hole.

 

[dwollen89]

Thanks for the replies. I drilled them today and everything came out good. One interesting thing I noticed after the fact is that the holes in the right side are about 1/8” higher than the left side. I couldn’t figure out why. Upon closer examination, the outriggers that have the two #10 screws are welded in different positions. The right landing gear mount was made four years before the left one so I’m guessing that’s why. Thankfully, the holes on the right side are still within edge distance on the lower longeron.