westcoastoz Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 I still have the original 'spring' type suspension for the nose wheel strut. I pull it apart every 100 hours to check it for wear and for lubrication purposes. As you will know, there is a small pin that locates the fairing (pant) to the correct position on the strut and as I remove the pant on a regular basis, I have noticed that the rubber grommet that lines the hole for this pin; deteriorates very quickly and eventually falls out. I have now noticed that the hole in the fairing has gone 'out of round' which has almost extended the hole to the edge of the carbon fibre material. I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this and is there an easy 'fix' to stop the problem. Gluing a metal S.S. washer either side of the hole would be OK however access is very difficult and in any event, this area gets quite a lot of grease & oil splashed on it, so keying the surface for gluing would be a problem. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baker Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 I still have the original 'spring' type suspension for the nose wheel strut. I pull it apart every 100 hours to check it for wear and for lubrication purposes. As you will know, there is a small pin that locates the fairing (pant) to the correct position on the strut and as I remove the pant on a regular basis, I have noticed that the rubber grommet that lines the hole for this pin; deteriorates very quickly and eventually falls out. I have now noticed that the hole in the fairing has gone 'out of round' which has almost extended the hole to the edge of the carbon fibre material. I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this and is there an easy 'fix' to stop the problem. Gluing a metal S.S. washer either side of the hole would be OK however access is very difficult and in any event, this area gets quite a lot of grease & oil splashed on it, so keying the surface for gluing would be a problem. Any ideas? The best fix I've come up with is to riveting a pair of AN970 washers sandwiching the existing fiber mount. I think I used -4 washers and shimmed the pin with some heat shrink tubing. I used a rivet squeezer and -3 rivets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hi OZ, Your idea has some good merit. I would however put the washer on and lay 3 layers of glass and epoxy over it. Once dry then drill the hole back into the middle. This should stop all future wear and tear. You won't need the rubber grommet with this setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 I'm with Roger on this one and..I would drill the hole a bit bigger and put some a piece of thin rubber tubing [ urethane fuel line worked great ] on the pin . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lays Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 I'm with Roger on this one and..I would drill the hole a bit bigger and put some a piece of thin rubber tubing [ urethane fuel line worked great ] on the pin . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lays Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 HI Jacques The fuel line that you used to fix my front fairing last summer is still working great. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoastoz Posted February 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 OK thanks for the ideas. Will give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastEddieB Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Not just CT's... This was my fix of a Cirrus SR22 main wheel fairing when a bolt was left loose on an annual and the fairing got chewed up: I was surprised Cirrus used a very small washer and no reinforcement of the fairing where the bolt passed through. No longer own the plane, but the repair seemed pretty durable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Hi Eddie, This is the exact reason I throw away the rubber piece of hose the FD uses on the back side of the wheel fairing as a bushing and use a large 1 1/4" fender washer on the back side. It allows you to tighten the mounting screw down tight to keep the wheel pants from rocking during flight, but it also adds a large surface area to sandwich the plastic wheel pant. This has kept the wheel pant hole from becoming enlarged and from cracking outward away from the hole. The good news is if this does happen (enlarged or broken mounting hole) the fix is easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastEddieB Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 ... keep the wheel pants from rocking during flight... Sometimes a Cirrus would come out of an annual with markedly decreased cruise performance. Speculation was that the angle at which the main wheel fairings were mounted could make a HUGE difference in drag, and hence cruise performance. Just something to consider, and maybe play with on the CT. My little Sky Arrow is pants-less, but now that I'm Experimental, I may experiment. I'm in an EAA chapter and the guys there are pretty good with that sort of thing. I wonder what sort of cruise speed increase I might expect? Now I see between 90-100k in cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi Eddie, You could expect 4-6 mph more depending on the plane and its other associated drag points. I have heard all kinds of claims. The slower the plane is in cruise the smaller the increase. Something in the 180-200 mph range could see as much as 20-30. The problem with really trying to quantify these numbers is doing a test at exactly the same conditions with the wheel pants off and then on. With each flight no matter what you do each flight condition will be slightly different and then add in the human error trying to achieve the another exact flight and then instrument error and you can only come close at best. So bottom line is you know you will go slightly faster and on a trip or ride. Would you even notice or would it even make any difference if you went 4-5 mph faster? Truth is you wouldn't even notice, you would still fly from point A to B and the winds and atmospheric conditions would decide your speed. It does dress the plane up, may keep a stone from flying and give a little extra mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N89WD Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hey Roger, any chance of posting a picture your washer solution? Thanks, Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi Mike, Nothing special here. Just get rid of the piece of black rubber hose on the inside of the wheel pant where the screw goes in to the axle rod. Put a large 1" - 1 1/4" fender washer on, between the wheel pant and the axle rod. That means the washer on the outside will sandwich the wheel pant with the washer on the inside. Tighten this down good and your wheel pants won't move. I just changed tires this morning and my holes in the wheel pants at the axle rod are no bigger than original nor do I have any spider cracks after 700 hrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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