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Wheel pant movement

Italiancowboy

Active Member
So bought a 10 and noticed the main wheel pants have a good 1/2” or so movement up/down pivot due to bracket that holds the pants is not fully tight (bolt with tubular spacer then lock nut- so nut is tight on bolt but not so tight as to keep bracket from moving)
Is this normal? Is there supposed to be some play there so the pant/bracket moves vs busting the fiberglass?

I had a 6 and the pants were firmly in place.
 
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Check the bracket attaching the pants to the gear leg. The holes wear out and the bracket moves. I had to replace one bracket because of it.

I also replaced the single countersunk screw at the outboard side with a hex bolt so I could tighten it better using locktite. They kept falling off in flight.
 
Not normal.

Take a pic from inside the pant where the screw holes are. Possible the builder took some short cuts. The manual has you put a bunch of epoxy / flox inside the pant at the attach holes then install and let cure. this creates a nice pocket for the bracket and helps to hold it captive on the bracket. It is a much larger, heavier pant than the 6/7 and it needs these pockets to help hold it in place on the bracket.

If you don't have these, the only thing keeping everything in place is the compression of the 4 screws. All of that weight and leverage can cause them to loosen and then start wallowing out the holes. This would likely be more problematic for a new buyer that is doing a lot of touch and go's. Landings put a lot of twisting force on the pants.

Larry
 
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I’ll see if I can post a photo
The connection from bracket to pants is fine.
And the bracket doesn’t connect to the leg but appears to bolt to a plate that is between the brake and the rim.
There are tubular spacers holding the bracket out past the brakes.
 
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Bracket doesn’t attach to leg but to the plate behind the brake
 

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Here’s another, you can see one of the nuts just inside the brake line loop. The nut that is tight on the bolt but the whole bolt spins
 

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Solid spacer

Plus one for the solid spacer.
I was under the impression that your wheel pants were wobbling on the brackets.
I see now that your brackets are wobbling with the wheel pants, different problem and different fix.
The solid spacer is definitely the way to go.
If you want to get into the air quickly, tighten all the attachment bolts and you are good to go. If those spacer have worn down too much because of all the movement, you may need an additional washer since the nuts may be bottomed out.
 
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