Landing Gear And Firewall Forward

Van's Aircraft offers several engines that can be used on the RV14A and RV14 aircraft. We will be using the Lycoming YIO-390 A3B6 standard engine of 210 H.P.

It took 1 year, 3 months to receive the finish kit which includes the engine mount, brakes, and landing gear parts.

Let's get started and put the fuselage onto the landing gear!

As per step three, on page 40A-02, of the builder's manual and using the dimensions provided in figure two, the (U-01405) gear attachment angles have to be fabricated.

They are fabricated from this piece of 2024-T351 aluminum angle stock which is 1 1/2"x 1 1/4"x 1/4" thick and roughly 15 3/16" long.

Each angle brace is 7 9/16" long and as you can see from the lay-out lines there isn't going to be much room for messing up the first cut to separate the angle into two.

*Measure twice, cut once!

I used our bandsaw to cut the aluminum angle stock in half.

My bandsaw has a thin gauged metal cutting blade on it, still, there is only about a 1/16" space between the two pieces that will be fabricated so be careful!

Okay, the first cut is done now and next a diagonal line has to be laid out on each piece and cut.

*Now that there are two pieces cut from the aluminum angle stock one is going to be (U-01405-L) and the other is (U-01405-R).

*Be careful to observe the diagram in figure 2, on page 40A-02 when when drawing the diagonals because you don't want make the cut on the wrong side!

I cut the diagonals using the bandsaw and cut a little short of the lines and will clean up the pieces with a file.

The file work took a little time but the (U-01405_L and U-01405-R) gear attachment angles are ready to be prepared for priming.

I used some 320 sandpaper, lightly sanded the surfaces, and then washed the parts with acetone.

I primed the (U-01405-L and U-01405-R) gear attachment angles with Tempo A-702 Valspar zinc phosphate self-etching green primer.

Nice!

These are the (U-01404-L and U-01404-R) upper landing gear braces.
They have to be deburred and prepared for priming as per step three, on page 40A-02.

These two braces will be bolted onto the wing spar where they will help support the (U-01401-L and U-01401-R) main landing gear legs.

I noticed some deep milling marks on the (U-01404-L) left upper landing gear brace so I called Van's Aircraft to see if it was okay to use this part.

*The scratches are .003" deep and, given that this is a brace for the main landing gear, I wanted to make sure that the part was sound.

Of course I discovered this on the weekend so I had to wait until Monday for an answer from Van's.

The engineers saw the photographs of the landing gear brace I sent them and said that the scratches were marks from the aluminum mill and weren't a result of any milling and that this (U-01404-L) landing gear brace was sound and that I could still use it.

Out an abundance of caution, I ordered a new (U-01404-L) upper landing gear brace anyway....

I started the deburring process on the (U-01404-R) right upper landing gear brace and preparation for priming as per step three, on page 40A-02 of the builder's manual.

Some light sanding with 320 grit sandpaper and a wash down with acetone and this piece is ready for Priming!

I primed the (U-01404-R) right upper landing gear brace with Tempo A-702 Valspar zinc phosphate self-etching green primer.

The (U-01403) gear attachment bars were next to be prepared for priming.
They were lightly sanded and then washed with acetone.

The (U-01403) gear attachment bars "sandwich" the (U-01401-L and U01401-R) main landing gear legs between themselves and the (U-01402) lower gear braces.

Ready for priming!

I primed the two (U-01403) gear attachment bars with (Tempo) A-702 Valspar zinc phosphate self-etching green primer.

As per step one, on page 40A-04, figure one and two of the builder's manual, locate the (F-14129AB and F-14129CD) gear shims and separate them into individual parts.

*Note that the (F-14129AB) shims are (.016") thick and the (F-14129CD) shims are (.025") thick.

I used the straight cutting shears to make the rough cuts in separating the individual pieces and will use a file to final size and debur the pieces.

These are the (F-14129A and F-14129B) shims.
They are (.016") thick.

I used the straight cutting shears to make the rough cuts in separating the individual pieces and will use a file to final size and debur the pieces.

These are the (F-14129C and F-14129D) shims.
They are (.025") thick.

The (F-14129A and F-14129B) shims have been deburred and labeled.

*Since these are shims, they will not be primed.

The (F-14129C and F-14129D) shims have been deburred and labeled.

*Since these are shims, they will not be primed.

I received the replacement (U-01404-L) upper landing gear brace from Van's Aircraft and thankfully the quality on this one is much better than the first one I received.

*Even this part is listed as being on backorder on the web store, it still arrived in under a week so thanks to Van's!

Here is a side-to-side comparison of the old (U-01404-L) (top of photograph), and the new (U-01404-L) (bottom of photograph).

This is an (U-1002) isolator washer.

*There are two washers provided in the finish kit but only one is to be modified as described in step four, on page 40A-05 of the builder's manual, the second washer is more or less a reserve washer.

As per step four, on page 40A-05 of the builder's manual, and referencing dimensions in figure two, excess material is to be removed from the (U-1002) isolator washer.

The washer, if placed directly over the diagram on the page, is pretty closely matched in size of the diagram but I elected to place some tape over the center of the washer and lay out the cut out lines just to be sure of an accurate cut.

Basically about 1/8" of material will be removed.

The (U-1002) isolator washer is supposed to be able to fit down inside of the (U-01407) elastomer pad as seen in figure one, on page 40A-06 of the builder's manual.

The (U-1002) isolator washer was lightly sanded and prepared for priming.

I primed the (U-1002) isolator washer with Tempo A-702 Valspar zinc phosphate self-etching green primer.

The (U-01404-L) left upper landing gear brace was deburred, the surfaces lightly sanded, and washed with acetone in preparation for priming.

The (U-01404-L) left upper landing gear brace was primed with Tempo A-702 Valspar zinc phosphate self-etching green primer.

This (WD-1031) axle flange will be used in step two, on page 40A-07 of the builder's manual, as a guide to drill a (.313", which is 5/16") hole into the spindle of the (U-01406) nose gear leg.

I need to clean up the edges of the (WD-1031) axle flange and remove some of the excess powder coating so that it will easily slide into place over the (U-01406) nose gear leg.

I removed the excess powder coating on this (WD-1031) axle flange.

*There are some burrs on the inside of the pre-drilled holes of this flange that need to be removed, so make sure to inspect them on your piece....they would have definitely scratched the spindle of the (U-01406) nose gear leg!