Brief Description: Main Gear mounting Bolt Reaming
Since the ream I needed came in a week or so ago and I am waiting on the flap blocks, I went back to the gear hole reaming that I had to put off. You insert a 5/16 bolt to get things lined up and then remove the bolt and ream to size. It took some time doing this by myself. As you insert the gear (fuselage upside down) you have no reference as to which way to orient to line up the holes or if you have the gear deep enough. As I got it close I made reference marks with a sharpie so that I could look on the inside and guage how far I needed to go and which way I needed to turn. When I initially started the gear would not go into the mounts, I tried some emery cloth but it still would not budge. Based on a suggestion from VAF forum I bought a brake hone and ran it inside the mount at both ends and this made all the difference.
I then had trouble getting the bolt into the hole in the mount, the instructions say to use a 5/16 to line things up, but the hole was a fair bit smaller. I had to ream out the holes in the mount a bit so the bolt would insert all the way though. The reaming went fine, lots of Boelube and nice and slow and it turned out great. I then removed the gear and coated everything with Corrosion-X for storage.
There is a part you have to make up from a large angle; this will go on the throttle console so I started that, but still need to finish it up. Until the parts come in I will just put things on hold, the good thing is being so close to Van’s, when they ship via FedEx Ground parts show up here the day after they ship them. So my wait is getting them to process the order. I have had some orders ship the day I ordered them and show up the next morning!
