The plans have you fit and drill the landing gear into place prior to installing the bottom skins. I will not be permanently installing the gear, just aligning it, fitting it into place, and drilling all the holes.
-Final drilled the inboard 7/16" hole throught the LG bolt weldment. Broke-out the antique craftsman 1/2" drill...this puppy has enough torque to twist your arms off! It's nice and slow and very powerful, so it should cut through the 4130 steel farly easily. -Repeated the same for the 1/4" holes -Got my neighbor Dave and his son Triston to come over and help flip the fuselage back upside down. -Spent some time leveling the fuse so the forward floor skin is level longitudinally and laterally -Learned a $30 lesson when I improperly clamped down the gear and bracket in the drill press. You're supposed to match drill the 7/16" hole that is in the gear to the inboard bracket, but it slipped in place while drilling and ended up in the wrong spot. Lesson learned...will have to call Van's tommorrow to order a new U-804 bracket.
