Have you ever had that seeming simple job, that turned out to be quite a bit more work than you initially thought? Well here's my story... When I built my RV-8 a couple of years ago, somehow not matter how much measuring and checking I ended up drilling the tailwheel fork slightly off at an angle. Now it was airworthy and I flew it for 170hrs this way, but EVERY time I hooked up a towbar and pulled the plane into the hangar I was reminded that I didn't do this task right.
So I decided to get a new fork and re-drill the parts to square everything up. Only problem is, initially the parts were drilled together in assembly, now with a new fork I had 2 holes inside in the tailwheel spring that needed to be accurately found. As with most things RV, the Vans Airforce website came to the rescue. All I needed to do was build a jig like this!
I stopped by Specialty Metal in Kent and got a 4 inch square by 1 inch thick block of aluminum, and started cutting. Once you have a 5/8 hole in place for the tailwheel spring and cut out the L shape, you simply clamp it in place and drill through the old holes into the aluminum. Then slid off the old one and slide in the new fork and you can drill the holes, matching perfectly with the blind holes in the spring. Just make sure the new one is squared up this time... (I triple checked that part)
When finished everything lines up and is nice and square. Now I wonder how long it will take for my tire to wear down and be square again? It has taken a bit of a slope over the 170 hours. Hopefully that helps you if you ever run into something like this on your project.
- Andy
So I decided to get a new fork and re-drill the parts to square everything up. Only problem is, initially the parts were drilled together in assembly, now with a new fork I had 2 holes inside in the tailwheel spring that needed to be accurately found. As with most things RV, the Vans Airforce website came to the rescue. All I needed to do was build a jig like this!
I stopped by Specialty Metal in Kent and got a 4 inch square by 1 inch thick block of aluminum, and started cutting. Once you have a 5/8 hole in place for the tailwheel spring and cut out the L shape, you simply clamp it in place and drill through the old holes into the aluminum. Then slid off the old one and slide in the new fork and you can drill the holes, matching perfectly with the blind holes in the spring. Just make sure the new one is squared up this time... (I triple checked that part)
When finished everything lines up and is nice and square. Now I wonder how long it will take for my tire to wear down and be square again? It has taken a bit of a slope over the 170 hours. Hopefully that helps you if you ever run into something like this on your project.
- Andy
Most people want their tires to be round Andy..not square. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe square ones work like wheel chocks. Very convenient. :)
ReplyDelete