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Wheel Pant Bracket

YellaDawg

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Main gear brackets on my tailwheeled RV14 keep breaking the AN3 bolts that fasten them into the axle. Operating off of grass and a "Navy" landing will hasten the failure. I have had approximately 6 bolts shear right at the head, both sides of the aircraft. So far I have been able to get the stud out with EZ outs, but at some point the threads are going to get out of tolerance. I realize the weakest part is failing (the AN3 bolt) there is not enough material to increase to a AN4 bolt and I am concerned that fixing the weakest link will potentially move the failure to the next weakest link. Right now I have just removed the wheel pants until I can find a better solution. Any ideas?
 
I have heard of other RV owners who operate off grass strips replacing the stock aluminum wheel pant brackets with stainless steel, but this is the first time I've heard of the bolt heads shearing off. You're sure you're not over tightening the bolts? I have watched many people over tighten AN3 bolts, you can actually twist the head right off with a wrench or socket and even if you don't break it, overtightening may weaken the bolt and result in it failing at less than its design sheer strength.
 
Main gear brackets on my tailwheeled RV14 keep breaking the AN3 bolts that fasten them into the axle.

Are these the bolts that are breaking?
 

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Yes, these are the ones, I make sure to check the pants every PreFlight. Maybe I am tightening too much, I'll use a torque wrench next time and see how it goes.
 
I have heard of other RV owners who operate off grass strips replacing the stock aluminum wheel pant brackets with stainless steel, but this is the first time I've heard of the bolt heads shearing off. You're sure you're not over tightening the bolts? I have watched many people over tighten AN3 bolts, you can actually twist the head right off with a wrench or socket and even if you don't break it, overtightening may weaken the bolt and result in it failing at less than its design sheer strength.

Thanks, I'll double check.
 
Same problem over here, the aft AN3 screw keeps on braking when operating out of grass strips.
I was able to temporarily solve the problem by attaching two pieces of angle bracket to the wheel fairing bracket in order the stabilise the setup. Unfortunately, the solution was short lived, after maybe 30 landings I found the screw shred at the head again.
My idea right now is to replace the AN3 screw with a metric M6 (which is a shy smaller that AN4) to strengthen the joint.

Any thoughts?
 

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Bolts

Try NAS bolts if you can find them. Current pressure recovery wheel pants are completely different.
 
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