Lost pins; Flap Lever

Frustratingly, we spent (too much) time trying to track down a set of clevis pins that we needed for assembly of the elevators.  Our inventory says we have them, and they were even checked off when we validated the inventory, but they are nowhere to be found.  It's a mystery, and the only solution is to order new clevis pins.

So while we are waiting on parts, we shifted gears and are working on the flap lever.   We drilled and deburred a hole in a precise location of the inner tube for the flap lever button.  This gives the flap actuator button sufficient travel, and also pre-loads the spring in the flap lever slightly so that it functions correctly.   Hours: 1.5

Elevator Trim Tab

The elevator pitch trim tab was installed on the left elevator using a MS20257-1 piano hinge.  First the piano hinge was cut to the size indicated in the builder's manual.  We had to rely on the picture as the text did not have an actual hinge size.  The size ended up being 12 inches in length.  The piano hinge halves were pre-drilled with a #40 bit.  All the parts were then put in place and the final holes were drilled with a #30 bit, which is the final size for CCP-42 rivets.  The parts will not be riveted until after the elevator is covered and painted, so in the meantime, it is held in place with clecos.  Hours: 2.0

Ed Drilling Trim Tab Hinge Half

Trim Tab Installation Complete

Rudder Pedals

The painted rudder pedals were re-installed with their fresh coat of paint.  Like the first time we installed the rudder pedals, we had to experiment with each attach point to get bind-free rotation.  The Elevator pushrod was also re-installed.  Hours: 2

Nose gear

The front nose gear was assembled.  The spacers on each side of the axle bolt that came with our kit were too short (possibly sized for the Escapade, and not the Highlander wheel).  New spacers were fabricated to fit our nose wheel, and the lengths were 2 1/4" on one side, and 2 7/16" on the other side.  With these new spacers, the fork legs were held tightly against the spacers, which were in turn held tight against the wheel bearing as required.

Nose wheel with new spacers

The nose wheel fork assembly was then fitted onto the shaft of the nose gear leg.  The friction bushing (part F-3590.3) that was supplied with the kit was previously found to have an opening that was too small, but a new part was quickly obtained (thanks Amazon), and fit perfectly.  The nut had to be tightened to the point where it took at least 20 lbs of force to move the fork assembly.  This was measured (as recommended per the manual) with a scale attached to the fork near the axle.   Once 20lbs was achieved, the nut was rotated just far enough to get the hole in the nut to line up for a cotter pin.  We remeasured the force again to see exactly how many lbs of force were then required to move the wheel, and it came out a bit over 23 lbs.

Point where fork just begins to rotate (20 lbs, 2 oz)

Point where fork rotates after nut aligned and cotter pin attached (23 lbs, 13 oz)

Once the nose gear was attached, the back of the plane was raised slightly with the rear rotisserie point so that the airplane was sitting on all 3 wheels  (A rear attach point is still currently needed because the plane is tail-heavy without an engine).  Hours: 2

Image of Fuselage sitting for 1st time on 3 wheels

Additional Nose Gear Work

The fitting of the pin on the Nose Gear was finally completed.  A couple of the oil sintered brass bushings had to be reamed to allow the pin to fit correctly.  The nose gear firewall attachment segment in the builder's manual is a little out dated.  Looks like the factory has changed the design without updating the builders manual.  With the parts provided, we were able to figure out the new design.  Here's a picture of the finished installation.

Nose Gear Firewall Attach Block and Pin

The suspension pin F-3450 was attached to the top of the gear leg using an AN4-14 bolt and associated hardware.  We had added the rubber shock absorbers and washers to the suspension pin earlier and attached it to the nose wheel mounting frame, F-3400.

We started to attach the nose gear fork assembly (F-3570.4).  Again the two oil sintered brass bushings had to be reamed to allow the fork assembly to be installed.  We ran into a part issue. The F-3590.3 friction bushing supplied has a much smaller hole than required for installation. To make the part work, we would need to make the inner hole 1-1/4".  We decided to order a Thrust Bearing Washer from Amazon with the same thickness and inner diameter, but a slightly larger outer diameter.  Should be here in a few days.  Hours: 3.0

Nose wheel mounting frame

We received the right size bolts for attaching the Grove gear to the aluminum attach brackets (AN5-21A bolts), so we replaced our temporary bolts with the correct ones.

The firewall brackets for the nose gear were attached to the fuselage, and the nose wheel mounting frame was also attached.  A 1/8 inch hole (for a cotter pin) was drilled through both the short tube pieces that act as stops, and the steel tube that serves as the pin for attaching the gear leg to the firewall brackets (at the lower mounting point).  Some time was spent time fitting the gear leg (part F-3490), but it has not yet been attached permanently.  Hours:2.5

Michael is bolting on the firewall brackets for the nose gear

Rudder Pedal Paint

Painted Rudder Pedals

A few coats of the final paint color was added to the rudder pedals. Paint used was Rustoleum Gloss Enamel 7786 Smoke Gray to match the Fuselage Powder Coat.  Hours: 0.5

2nd Axle and Wheel Installation

As we indicated in our previous blog posting, we fixed the brake shoe rubbing the tire.  Originally, we had removed three spacers behind the brake disc.  This gave us the space we needed so that the brake disc didn't rub the Grove landing gear.  But this had the negative result of causing the tire to rub on the brake shoe.  After consulting the factory, and a little experimentation, we added two washers in the original spacer location.  This gave us sufficient space on the brake shoe and brake disc.

Hours: 1.5

Original Spacers vs Two 1/4" washers

Washer/Spacer location

Brake Shoe to Tire Spacing

Brake Disc to Grove Gear Spacing

Axle and wheel installation

Had an issue with the left tire rubbing the brake shoe.  After discussing with the factory, they suggested adding additional washers behind the brake disk which positions the wheel slightly further away from the brake shoe.  Experimented by adding one washer, but there wasn't much clearance, so added 2 washers to each of the 3 bolts attaching the disk to the hub. This provided sufficient clearance and the problem with rubbing was resolved.   We plan to duplicate this change on the other (right) wheel, too.  Hours: 1.0

Axle Installation

Axle installed on left side

Installed right and left axles to the Grove gear with right-sized bolts that just arrived in the mail.  Also did a test install of the tires.  With tires installed and inflated to 15 PSI , we noticed there is some very slight rubbing on one side between the tire and the brake shoe.  We will contact the factory to discuss this with them further. Hours: 1

Misc Work

 The fork assembly F-3570.4 has bronze bearings EF202424 inserted into both ends of the pivot tube.

Also sprayed the rudder pedals with self etching primer.

Hours:1

Landing Gear Reversal

Found that we had installed the Grove landing gear backwards.  The gear was reversed.  Had to order AN5-21A bolts for the landing gear as they were not included in the kit hardware.  While we wait for the hardware to arrive, we stared assembly of the nose gear parts. Hours: 2

Wheel assembly

Assembled the two main gear wheels, and the front wheel.  To do this, we placed an inner tube inside of each wheel (using some talcum powder to assure it slides inside of the rubber wheel), pushed the valve stem through one half of the wheel, then bolted the other half of the wheel to the first one (6 bolts at 100in-lbs of torque).  Main gear tires were inflated to 38 PSI, and front tire was inflated to 29 PSI.  Brake rotors were also bolted to the two main gear wheels.  Hours: 2.5

Front wheel and main gear wheels

Wheels, Brakes

We decided to start working on the main gear, but after looking at the parts in our kit, there appeared to be a problem with the axles.  It looked like the axles needed to be just a little bit longer so that we could bolt them on (using axle spacers from Just) without interfering with the brakes.  Because of this confusion, we contacted the factory, and learned that we do not need to use the spacers supplied by the factory.  Instead, we can get the existing axles to work by removing the brakes, and then removing small (about 1/2 inch) spacers that are behind the brake discs.  By doing this, we have verified that the axles provided will work just fine.    Hours: 1.5

Workshop TV

To make our garage workshop a little more "liveable", we decide to install a TV.  Bought a wall mount kit, and moved this 32" LCD TV from the spare bedroom to the garage.  Works great!

Workshop Entertainment

Additional Flooring Work

Rudder cable holes were marked and cut out from the rear baggage aluminum panel.  The hole placements were made using the rudder cable guide holes in the fuselage.

The two flooring panels between the seats and fuselage sides were drilled to final size and all holes and edges were deburred.  The flooring panel below the rudder pedals was also drilled to final size and then holes/edges deburred.  Hours: 2