I expected this to be worse then it turned out to be. I would say the total time (including removing/reinstalling the cowling) was < 2 hours. I had one helper which made the job much easier but I think I could have done it by myself in a pinch.
Key ideas:
I weighed down the tail with two buckets of landscaping pebbles to take the weight of the nose gear. I then completely removed the nose gear leg to do the cuts. This required a small amount of effort to move the exhaust out of the way.
I used a 7/8" bimetal hole cutter from Milwaukee Tools to do most of the cutting. I used a Rockwell F80 oscillating tool to straighten the edges and a Dremel tool with a rotary sanding head to clean it all up.
I used both the bigger washer and the heavier duty cup on top of the shock absorber though I couldn't tell the difference between the old cup and the new one (other than the $25 it cost me to buy the new one from Van's).
I properly annotated my aircraft log book to reflect that the SB was complete.
Key ideas:
I weighed down the tail with two buckets of landscaping pebbles to take the weight of the nose gear. I then completely removed the nose gear leg to do the cuts. This required a small amount of effort to move the exhaust out of the way.
I used a 7/8" bimetal hole cutter from Milwaukee Tools to do most of the cutting. I used a Rockwell F80 oscillating tool to straighten the edges and a Dremel tool with a rotary sanding head to clean it all up.
I used both the bigger washer and the heavier duty cup on top of the shock absorber though I couldn't tell the difference between the old cup and the new one (other than the $25 it cost me to buy the new one from Van's).
I properly annotated my aircraft log book to reflect that the SB was complete.