Wheel pant bolt size?

[Mtbguy]

Hi everyone
I recently purchased an RV3 and have been bringing it back to up to speed. I repaired wheel pants and repainted them but the hardware was lost long ago. I’m trying to determine size of the main bolt or screw that goes into the (outside facing) axle nut.
The axle nut looks like the standard one on most Rvs I have seen. Can anyone give me an idea of the bolt or screw size. Thanks!

Attached is photo of someone else’s axle nut but mine looks the same.

Rick

 

[Flyhud]

 

[Mtbguy]

Awesome, thanks!

 

[penguin]

Appreciate this is drifting slightly, but how many safety wire the bolt to the cotter pin?
I have never done so and have not had a problem in 1000+ hours. I only realised I was supposed to a few weeks ago.

 

[D-Dubya]

I safety wire that bolt head to a hole drilled in the mounting bracket. Easy to get to.

 

[rbenua]

Appreciate this is drifting slightly, but how many safety wire the bolt to the cotter pin?
I have never done so and have not had a problem in 1000+ hours. I only realised I was supposed to a few weeks ago.

We lost one of those last year on our RV-9. About 1000h on the airframe, no sign it had ever been safety wired by us or 2 previous owners, it had solid-head bolts on both sides. We discovered one was missing when we took the wheel pants off at an oil change interval - thankfully no other apparent issues from the pant flopping around for however long it was gone.

We swapped them for drilled-head bolts and safety wired to the cotter pin as described in the plans. It's not too difficult to do if the large nut is positioned so the cotter pin eye is on the forward side.

 

[Desert Rat]

I safety wire that bolt head to a hole drilled in the mounting bracket. Easy to get to.

I did the same.

 

[RV8Squaz]

Strange. The VA-106 on my RV-8 came with a nut plate installed negating the need for safety wire. The drilled bolt and safety wire aren’t specified in my plans. My finish kit is from circa 2000. Even if the bolt lost torque (which it hasn’t in 19 years and 2100 hours of flying) there is no way it would come out.

 

[D-Dubya]

We lost one of those last year on our RV-9. About 1000h on the airframe, no sign it had ever been safety wired by us or 2 previous owners, it had solid-head bolts on both sides. We discovered one was missing when we took the wheel pants off at an oil change interval - thankfully no other apparent issues from the pant flopping around for however long it was gone.

My pre-flight inspection includes giving a little push to each of the wheel pants to see if there's any movement, along with a visual inspection for missing screws. You might want to add that step to your pre-flight as well. Just sayin'...

 

[elev666]

Strange. The VA-106 on my RV-8 came with a nut plate installed negating the need for safety wire. The drilled bolt and safety wire aren’t specified in my plans. My finish kit is from circa 2000. Even if the bolt lost torque (which it hasn’t in 19 years and 2100 hours of flying) there is no way it would come out.

Mine has the -4 nut plate on the VA 106 and I managed to have one leave the theater , my homebase is a 2400 foot grass runway which I am sure had something to do with it departing it’s position! This is also when I found out H-4-7 bolts are not something I keep spares of !

 

[Desert Rat]

Strange. The VA-106 on my RV-8 came with a nut plate installed negating the need for safety wire. The drilled bolt and safety wire aren’t specified in my plans. My finish kit is from circa 2000. Even if the bolt lost torque (which it hasn’t in 19 years and 2100 hours of flying) there is no way it would come out.

That is interesting for sure. On my RV7 the hub nut came with a nut plate already installed as well, but it definitely has the safety wire instruction shown up in post 2. It's on supplemental drawing C2, drawn by Rian Johnson back in 1999. I wonder why the disparity between models...

 

[rbenua]

My pre-flight inspection includes giving a little push to each of the wheel pants to see if there's any movement, along with a visual inspection for missing screws. You might want to add that step to your pre-flight as well. Just sayin'...

Mine does now for sure!