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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date: 7-19-2014
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Number of Hours: 3.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Nose gear installation
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After finishing the engine mount installation, the next logical step was to install the nose gear and wheel. The nose gear, like the mains, is simply a steel bar that fits into the weldment and is held in place by a single bolt. Any bolt that works independently to secure a major part of the structure is an important bolt.
The first challenge was the usual, the holes in the weldment were slightly undersized and needed to be opened up to 5/16" in order to receive the bolt. No 5/16" drill bit on hand. Out with the chainsaw file and start removing a little metal, as the amount of metal to remove was miniscule and the time needed to drive home and get a drill bit was not. Question--why does every hole on this project have to be a different size? Rhetorical...
Once that was done, the plans called for cutting a 3/4" hole in the firewall to allow for access to the bolt from the inside of the fuselage. I dutifully cut this hole only to figure out that it would actually be easier to simply install the nose gear on the engine mount before installing the engine mount. It was. That was a head scratcher.
The nose wheel installation went pretty much like the main wheels, break the rim, pack the bearings, talc the inner tube and tire, air up and release, check to see that nothing is pinched and bolt everything back together. The picture shows the final results.
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Finally up on all three gear
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Nose wheel detail
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