S-7 GEAR SOCKET BOLT HOLE REINFORCEMENT
2012/01/10
Owners who operate on wheels
have found that the ¼” hole for the bolt
that retains the gear leg in the socket will enlarge due to torque on the gear
leg. Current kits have additional plates welded on to the sockets to provide
thicker material to help resist this wear.
Because welding on a completed
airframe is not something everyone wants to tackle, there have been other
solutions in the form of bolt on shells. This is another, simple way of doing
it.
This is a chunk of 1 5/8 OD
steel pipe with a 1 3/8 ID that nicely fits over the gear socket:
Mark off two, 2” lengths then
drill a ¼” hole through each length in the center. Cut through, from both sides
but only 95% on each 2” length leaving two small bits of the circumference to hold
everything together. To ensure you keep matching halves together put in cuts or
punch marks to allow you to identify each side of both 2” lengths. Next mark
two lines along a plane perpendicular to the holes and cut each 2” length in
half. The additional length on the pipe
makes a handle for pushing it into the band saw.
Clean up, paint, then coat
inside with JB Weld and install. Just rough up the paint on the socket where
the shells will sit and tighten the gear leg bolt. The two gear clamps add additional
tension while the JB Weld hardens.
Here is the right side:
And the left:
