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Nose gear assembly warped

M

Mitch757

Well Known Member
Sponsor
When trying to install the WD1201 nose gear assembly to the fuselage, I found that the center of the horizontal plate with the 13 attach holes was warped downward in the center about 1/8 inch.

It seems to me that trying to cinch this up tight would be problematic. It would either warp the stainless firewall and/or (try to) bend the plate flat to fit.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Mitch Garner
RV12 finishing and avionics....
 
Mitch ? Curious as to what Van?s said about your front gear mount being warped? I read your post earlier in the month and last weekend while performing the inventory on my finishing kit, remembered your post about the warping of the front gear mounting plate ? my front gear mounting plate also appears not to be flat.
 
RV12 Nose Gear

HI John,

The plate that takes the 13 AN3 bolts has a bow downward in the center of about 1/8 inch. Gus viewed my photos and said it was excessive. Right now, Vans has none. The new parts are in heat treat, then they will be powder coated.

I think trying to force things up tight would likely crack/bend the flange on the lower firewall.

PM me and I will email you some photos of mine.

Mitch
 
According to Van's I was the first

to encounter a problem with the nosewheel strut. Mine just didn't tighten up to the fuselage correctly and they nosewheel looked off-center. I dropped plumb lines from the fuselage sides, marked each, found the centerline and sure enough the nosewheel was almost 3/4 off-center. Sent photos to Van's and they sent a new noswheel strut. This was in early 2010.

Wayne 120241/143WM
 
Warped WD-1201 Gear Photos

Made a trip to the hangar yesterday with the camera to take some photos to send off to Van's. Here is what my WD-1201 gear mounting plate looks like.

DSC06633.JPG

This first photo is looking at the mounting plate almost straight on.

DSC06630.JPG

The second photo is using a straight edge and ruler ... the gap as measured at the center of the aft portion of the mounting is a hair over 1/8".

DSC06631.JPG

Because of a weldment in the way, the gap is not easy to measure where the mounting holes are. However with the straight edge as far forward as the weldment allows, the gap measured just under 1/8".

Will send off these photos this weekend to Van?s support to see what they have to say about the issue. The warpage looks excessive to me ? so guessing they will replace the unit but will have to wait until next week to find out the verdict.

Curious if the above photos look like yours Mitch?
 
All is well

Monday I received a call from Sterling at Van?s wanting to know how much warping was there at the forward mounting holes. Sterling said the maximum allowable limit was approximately 1/16" but all my photos were taken aft of the mounting holes so he wanted me to make a measurement at the mounting holes.

So today went up to the hangar and laid the straight edge across the mounting holes of the WD-1201 front landing gear?s fuselage mounting plate and took another measurement which yielded approximately 1/32" of warping at the forward mounting holes ? which is well within the acceptable 1/16" limits Sterling at Van?s stated.

DSC06650.JPG


Sterling explained to me that after the welds are made, the whole assembly is run through a heat treating process which often induces some warpage in addition to the warpage created by the welding process. However, this additional warpage is mostly generalized in the area aft of the mounting holes between the two lightening holes (as seen on mine) ? apparently the two lightening holes in this area of the plate also contribute to the warpage. The main thing ? all is well with my WD-1201 assembly as it is which is good news for both me and Van's.
 
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