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Wheel Pant Bolt Hole


Runtoeat

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Posted

I have a main wheel pant that has a damaged bolt hole - this is the main bolt that holds the pant to the axle. Has anyone repaired this area and if so, any advice on doing this? Any procedure from FD for this? This appears to be another area of our CT's that could use an expoxied-in metal reinforcement. It gets a lot of stress and strain. I imagine that it is constantly working due to wind buffeting and when one taxies on rough fields.

Posted

I fixed mine a couple of years ago. I used 4 layers of carbon fiber and "glassed" a fender washer in between the layers to redefine the hole. Worked great.

Posted

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Great idea by adding the fender washer.

 

Great minds and all that...

 

An impromptu repair on a Cirrus wheel pant using fender washers and rubber washers inside and out to "sandwich" the worn area::

 

5080336647_056d87dfda_z.jpg

 

5080336749_efd886171d_z.jpg

 

 

The damage was caused by the bolt working its way loose after an annual.

Posted

My repair went well. I wanted to add a stainless washer during the glass layup but was shot down on this idea. Wish I would have done it. Can still do it with a couple more layers on the inside to encapsulate a washer.....hmmm. This area just gets a constant workout during rough field taxi and propellor wash buffeting during flight.

Posted

If the fiberglass is repaired, why not just do a modification like mine (fender washers and rubber washers inside and out) to spread the load?

 

Ed, I like your repair, especially for it being quick and easy. Spreading out the load is good and I think your repair should last a long time. I had added rubber washers under some small stainless washers. This resulted in the pants breaking. I believe that I was not able to "hold torque" on the bolts due to the squish of the rubber washers. I'm going to try a different approach. I have repaired the holes and then beveled some washers to closely follow the surface of the wheel pants and then radiused the edges of these washers so they don't dig into the pant - one washer inside between the axle and pant and and one washer outside between the pant and the bolt head. I will loctite these and then torque them. It is hoped that they will prevent the pants from moving which should prevent eventual opening up of the attachment holes but we'll see.

Posted
I believe that I was not able to "hold torque" on the bolts due to the squish of the rubber washers.

 

That's what the blue Loctite was for! :)

 

In any case, I was dismayed that Cirrus seemed to use no obvious reinforcement in the bolt area, and then used a washer barely larger than the bolt head. Just enough if everything is snugged down right, but zero tolerance for error.

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