(Jay Honeck) wrote in message . com...
I stopped by the shop this morning, to see how the wheel pants were
coming along.

What a difference! All of the wowed-out holes have been backed with
aluminum that has been riveted to the old fiberglass, and then
fiberglassed and filled over and around. High stress areas have been
reinforced, and really high stress patched areas have been filled with
"JB Weld" -- a virtually indestructable epoxy.

Best of all, the old attachment system has been completely upgraded.
The stupid "dzu" connector system (that held the two clamshell halves
together)has been eliminated, in favor of self-locking screws that
won't vibrate loose. This has meant filling in all the large dzu-sized
holes and re-drilling them smaller, but I'm hopeful that the danged
things actually won't "wow" out and come disconnected due to vibration
anymore.

Also, the dumb attachment bolts (that threaded into the struts
themselves) have been eliminated. Instead, my A&P is tapping bolts
into the *struts*, so that they stick out through the holes in the
pants. This allows the use of self-locking nuts and cotter pins -- a
much more secure attachment method -- and should eliminate the problem
of those bolts vibrating loose (we've actually lost two of them in the
last several years!)every few flights.

As usual, I'm impressed with what he's doing. Best of all, because
he's only going to have to paint one color (he thought he was going to
have to paint all four colors, at first), the cost is going to come in
way under estimate.


Sounds like you'll be airborne pronto! Glad it is going so well.
You're doing it right from you're desription. I have used JB weld in
several places for cowling and wheel strut fairing repairs. It is
thick and stays where you put it. One thing I'd like to mention that
you might consider; Southco, Camlock, and Dzus fasteners are spring
loaded cushioned type attachments that give a little under load and
are good for high vibration locations like cowlings, etc. A solid or
hard mount can accelerate cracking if not done perfectly. The original
Dzus may not have been installed correctly which is why they have torn
out.

Regards,
Bruce Cunningham