In fitting the Grove outboard gear brackets, I had to trim away some of the bottom fuse skin—this also removed one rivet on the aft side of the opening where the gear fits. I drilled a #41 hole, then used a deburr bit and lightly countersunk the skin. Used the pneumatic squeezer to install a couple of NAS 1097 rivets—felt really good to mash a couple of rivets. I received some 90 degree steel fittings from ACS today. Coated them with Permatex thread sealant with PTFE and screwed them in. Installed the gear and finished up the brake lines that connect the internal passages in the Grove gear to a bulkhead fitting on the bottom of the fuse. Sounds fairly simple—wrong—burned thru a bunch of tubing before getting a decent fit. Finally satisfied with the lines, I removed the gear and repacked them in the original shipping crate along with the brackets, hardware, gear covers and brake lines—won’t need these parts until final installation. Next up, (if I can recruit some help) I plan to install the screws that go thru the fuse side skins in the gear box area.
Left brake line, added small rivet lower left of pic
Grove gear re-crated. Tubing scraps from brake line fab
