I can't get to my valve stems.

[Roger Lee]

Hi All,

 

Here is something we have talked about since the beginning. I don't know when the beginning was, but it was in the beginning.

 

Pilots say they hate to check their tire pressure as regularly as they should because they can't get past the wheel pant. It just hangs down too far.

Well in the beginning I notched the wheel pants years ago and that kind of worked, but not very good. FD did try notching after that for a while, but hasn't done it for quite some time. If you do try the notch method no LOA is needed. So notching is old school. One of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time, butttttt there is a better mouse trap here.

 

FD leaves the wheel pants hang quite low on the front wheel and back. Too low to check tire pressure so pilots rarely preform this check. So why not make this more user friendly and safer in the process. So the fix is to shorten the outside of the pant some and this will make it easier to check pressures, visually inspect your wheels, wheel nuts and tire integrity. Not to mention it will make you much happier and you will use less expletives.

To do this hop on down to Ace Hardware (Mack's favorite place), wait scratch that and hop on down to Home Depot and pick up a Dremel Tool. You will need this tool and is a tool I use all the time on CT's. (Works great to cross cut the screw heads then just remove them with a screwdriver)

While buying your Dremel tool pick up some cut off blades. It even comes with them. Take a piece of 1" masking tape and run it all the way across the wheel pant right along the bottom edge of the indentation where the screw attaches the wheel pant to the axle. Now you have a nice straight line to cut along the bottom of the tape. NOT THE TOP.. You do not need to remove the pant for this. Just fire up the Dremel and make a nice straight cut off the bottom of the pant. You will end up trimming about 1-1.25" off the bottom. Now you will have access to your tire stem and be able to visualize and inspect the wheel. Do this to both sides and then do it to the front. It does not affect the pant or the ability to keep rocks at bay. It will help keep mud and snow from packing up inside the pant too. This does not affect the flight characteristics and is only cosmetic. No LOA is needed. You say wait I want someone else to try this. Mine has been like this for 3 years now and I can tell you at least 75 or more CT's have done this mod that I know of. I will try and get a few pics together, but this is very easy to do.

 

I hope this makes your day safer because you pre-flight this area more and makes you happy.

[airhound]

Anybody got any pics of modified pants?

[S3flyer]

My wheel pants (Sting S3) are somewhat more accessible than the CT's but it can still be pain to access the valve stem. Before you make a notch or trim the pants, you might want to try a valve stem extender. Makes my life easy! It's relatively flexible and screws on without losing any air. http://www.aircraftextras.com/Valve-ext.htm