I am just completing my first conditional on my RV12. One of the annual recommendations is to re-lube the muffler with anti seize. This of course requires removing the springs. In the plans, it recommends RTV in the spring and on the attaching ends to prevent harmonic vibrations from causing excessive wear.
I have 180 hours on mine after one year which is somewhat excessive but....I did remove the RTV from each of the spring ends and found two (of 8) to be worn more than half-way through. I have ordered more springs and requested Vans to include it as a check on the annual.
These springs have been a breakable item with ultralights for years but they of course safety wired them to prevent "loose spring into prop". I plan to safety wire mine with the RTV now simply because I don't want "loose muffler into cowling." No doubt you could lose 3 or 4 or more before that would happen but they are covered with RTV and would be hard to see each time you looked in there.
Other than that, I have found nothing unusual other than an occasional loose screw and lots of cleaning.
I have 180 hours on mine after one year which is somewhat excessive but....I did remove the RTV from each of the spring ends and found two (of 8) to be worn more than half-way through. I have ordered more springs and requested Vans to include it as a check on the annual.
These springs have been a breakable item with ultralights for years but they of course safety wired them to prevent "loose spring into prop". I plan to safety wire mine with the RTV now simply because I don't want "loose muffler into cowling." No doubt you could lose 3 or 4 or more before that would happen but they are covered with RTV and would be hard to see each time you looked in there.
Other than that, I have found nothing unusual other than an occasional loose screw and lots of cleaning.
