REFLECTOR: RG Questions

[John Dibble]

Dave,
Thanks.  That's a very good observation.  I have the Franklin engine and the closest exhaust is 12" away.  I don't think heat is an issue for me.  I was able to tighten both nuts.  I'm thinking that the force that bent the bolt also stretched the bolt and or compressed the firewall and bulkhead making it loose.  I don't want to reverse the bolts right now because they're slightly bent.  I'm hoping that by turning them 180* they will eventually bend back straight and be easier to remove.

John

davedent at comcast.net wrote:

> John if your bolt is bent there is a good chance that the fiber lock nut has lost its torque.  Check this to be sure.  Also if you have the fiber nut that Velocity issued double check this as well.  The bolt is a grade eight but the nut is not.  Also if you install the bolt the way the plans tell you with it being front to back with the nut in the engine compartment change it out.  There should be no fiber lock nuts in the engine compartment. This is wrong.  I have lost four right hand gears because of looseness of that nut before I realized what had happen and what was going on.
>
> Before the first three I had to cut the bolts out because of so much bending of the bolts.  So I didn't realize that the nut was loosening up.  The last time there wasn't that much damage so I just checked to see if the bolt was bent and if I was going to have a big problem in getting the gear out.  When I went to check with the plane on jacks I found the gear real loose in the mount and the bolt just spun.  So I took the cowl off and found the nut was about to fall off.  I was able to just spin it off.  The fiber portion had melted and became useless.  The right hand gear nut is just four inches from my exhaust on that side.  That's why I never had problems with the left gear.  It's close to 12 inches from the exhaust.  DAAAAA/ I should have thought of this a long time ago.  I couldn't believe I was the only one having this problem.
>
> So now I have the bolts facing forward with drilled grade eight bolts and castle nuts.  When you don't have bearing in a pivot point then you must use drilled bolts with cotter pins.  Because the first thing that will turn when the bolt is bent is the nut coming off.  I should have thought of all this but I am one of the guys that always says the plans are correct.  Boy I'm I wrong on this one.  I lost three gears before realizing the problem.  Don't let it happen to you. Check it and if you can get the fiber lock nuts out of the system and out of the engine compartment.
> Dave