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Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date: 5-22-2009
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Mounting The Main Landing Gear - Part 02
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Long story short, this "one-day" job took over 3 full days with lots of help from a number of helpers. Partly it took so long because I didn't follow the plans step order, but that being said, the design of the RV-8 gear towers is simply atrocious. There is simply no easy access to the inside of these things to tighten nuts or pipe fittings. Van's get's a D- grade on the design of these towers. Moreover, in the construction manual, it indicates that you are suppose to "check the torque values of all the gear attachment bolts after 10 hours of flight, again at 40 hours, and then every Annual there after. Ah, right, I can barely get access to those inside nuts with the top skin *not* in place. Once that skin is riveted on, access will be nearly impossible; no wait, I mean simply *impossible*. Waa waa waa. This was easily the hardest part of the construction so far.
The pictures also show a system I devised to align the gear legs during the drilling phase. I attached two 8 foot long 1.5" aluminum angles to the gear legs using the axle bolt holes. I then went to the hardware store and had them cut a perfectly square piece of particle board exactly 65 11/16" wide which I put in between the aluminum angles. This seemed to have worked well at holding the gear perfectly parallel while the holes were drilled.
I also had to fabricate up two super small, super tight bend radius mini brake lines to fit inside the gear attachment areas. I sure hope they don't leak because the only way I can service them is to take the landing gear legs off. Given how hard they are to put on, that's pretty much not going to happen.
I want to thank Craig, Uncle Bob, and Tom for lending me a hand with this most trying installation! I couldn't have done it without your help! Thank you!
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Fuselage Ready For Gear Mounting
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Fuselage Ready For Gear Mounting
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Landing Gear Mount Before Drilling
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Copyright © 2008-2024 Matt Dralle. All Rights Reserved.
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