Today was the day of the big move. The big move of the evolving fuselage from the patio to the carport. It was pretty tight - mainly due to the clutter that has collected in and around the corners. I won't say a lot and just let the pictures tell the story.
And that was it. Not too bad but I could have used another helping hand to push while I was pulling.
The next step was to put the fuselage on its belly again. Shifting the fuselage around on the work bench has gotten pretty tricky now as the weight is causing a lot of friction and one person is almost too little to move it now. I'm glad to have it on the wheels soon.
Unfortunately, the work bench is too wide to allow both legs to get installed. I had to pull the fuselage all out to a corner and cant it so the tip of the corner would sit underneath the gear leg tunnel. It took me about half an hour to move fuselage inch by inch into that position.
Then access was possible on both sides by just pulling the fuselage laterally a bit to clear the inboard access hatch to tighten the bolts. Here you see the inboard leg support on the left side.
That was fairly easy. The hard part was yet to come. I assembled the outboard leg support and greased the work plate before inserting it.
However, the "insertion" was the problematic part. At first it looked like it would go in.
Looks good, doesn't it? Look closely though. The rivet wart in the shadow of the bolt is right behind it. So close that I cannot turn the bolt head and pass the rivet with a nut or wrench.
This is a long known problem and has been extensively discussed on VAF. The rivet had to get drilled out which is easy if you have an angle drill or a long drill bit.
After this hurdle was passed the leg went in fairly easy.
Rinse and repeat on the other side. I had to drill out the obstructive rivet there too. On to the installation of the wheel axle. Note that in the following picture the axle is not installed right. The holes for the wheel pants are vertical and they have to be horizontal. I wish I had seen it then. Also note that the brake thingy is on with the groove in the knurled nut on the brake side. It should be on the wheel side though. I didn't find anything in the Matco documentation about the torque for these axle mounting screws, so I used the maximum of 140 inch pounds for AN4 bolts.
Almost forgot to mention that I also fixed an error I had committed earlier when preparing the gear leg section by assembling the tires. Back then I didn't care to read manual and assumed I needed automotive bearing grease for the main's bearings. I removed this grease, cleaned the bearings and re-packed them with AeroShell 22. This took quite a while. What is the approved and correct way of removing grease from bearings? I really created a mess with that and had this stuff all over me. Yuck!
A note in my builder's manual said at that point to check with section 36 before continuing. That's the section for the wheel pants and I wish I had put that note BEFORE the step I just completed. Section 36 revealed on page 36-05 that ....
... I had to unscrew those bolts I had just installed, throw out the washers under the bolt heads and install the U-00003's which are mounting points for the wheel pants.
I also installed the tire and the brake at that time on the left side. However, I would soon find out about the aforementioned mispositionings and undo all that again.
For an unknown reason everything went accidentally correct on the right side which I didn't take photos off to not bore you.
I had started at 9am and now it was passed sunset. Here you can see the current arrangement in the carport.
That was about the time when I noticed my mistake on the left axle. I just accepted fate and undid everything and turned the axle as well as that brake thingy, then fastened everything again.
I am not sure if I tightened the axle nut correctly and left the cotter pin disengaged, just as a straight pin. The wheels need a lot of force to turn right now but reading the manual that seems to be correct. I will research this issue and then decide what to do about the cotter pin. Maybe I wait until certification before really engaging it.
Now I have to find out how to get the even heavier thing off the work bench tomorrow. I hope ELizabeth will have a moment to assist me with this. I wonder what the fuselage will do on two legs. Is the CG in front of the wheels or aft of it? I bet it's aft and that would help with the nose wheel installation too.
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