Brief Description: Removing The Wings For The First Time - Part 1
Since most of the work on the wings is now complete, they needed to be unbolted and removed to finish them up. There's a few things that need to be completed like the fuel pick ups, fuel level sender installation, and drilling the holes in the bottom skin for the bottom fairings. Also, the top and leading edge fairings need to have their platenuts installed and skins dimpled. Once this is completed, the wings have to go back on one more time for final fitting of the top and bottom fairings and for the final fitting and connection of the fuel lines. Then the wings come off again and don't need to go back on until the airplane is out at the airport and final assembly will begin.
Craig came over tonight to lend a hand with the wing pulling exercise. The flaps had to come off first, and then the rear spar and fuel tank attach bolts had to be removed. Then, the four large bolts though the main spars had to be backed out. This required that the wing be rocked up and down a bit from the tip so that the bolts could be wacked out with a nylon hammer and/or unscrewed with a wrench. The right side was a little stubborn and took a while particularly the bottom bolts, but the left side went very quickly. We were able to get the wings pulled off and supported by saw horses without any collateral damage. Yahoo!
So, I've got maybe three days worth of work on the wings now that they are removed and I'm hoping that I can put them back on for final fitting perhaps Monday or Tuesday next week.
