Brief Description: Final Wheel Pant Check and Adjustment
No work on the Panther was completed last week. I spent most of the week completing the annual condition inspection on my BD-4. Plan to sell it soon to create room in the hangar.
Today the wheel pants were reinstalled to verify that the rear of the pants had adequate ground clearance in the three point attitude, and to check the tire clearance in all pressure conditions from flat, partially flat, to fully inflated. I determined that more clearance was needed on both pants in the flat condition. The pants were marked, trimmed, and the new edges sanded smooth.
The tires were also marked with a white paint dot to indicate proper orientation to access the valve stem. The valve stem caps were changed to the style with a 3/8” hex on the ends, so they can be installed or removed easily with a nut driver. A three inch valve extension easily engages the tire valve through the opening. The wheel pants will be set aside until the first few hours of flight testing are completed.
Three Point Attitude Clearance
Alignment Paint Dot for Aligning the Valve Stem to the Access Port
