Anyone know how much improvement the stock pants yield?

I know on our Warrior, the stock wheel pants made a very small, almost
indiscernible difference.

BTW: I got the "new" wheel pants back from the shop yesterday, and
reinstalled them -- wow, what a difference.

All of the self-locking fasteners actually work. The bolt attachments to the
landing gear now have self-locking nuts, with cotter pins. Everything is
tight, clean, and functional.

We had a long discussion about the potential need for allowing "flex" in the
wheel pants, which, it turned out, is something my A&P knows something
about. It seems he has made (from scratch) quite a few wheel pants, for
various aircraft, over the last 35 years, and his findings are that the most
rigid, strongest possible mounting brackets make the best, longest lasting
wheel pant system.

To illustrate this, he showed me a plane on the ramp, with "normal" stock
wheel pants. We found that there is absolutely no wheel pant movement when
wiggled.

Later, I found an Archer with the modern-day Piper equivalent of my "fancy
pants," and they, too, are mounted as stoutly as a bridge truss. There is
absolutely no movement at all when you try to shake them. (Yes, the owner
was there!)

My A&P's opinion is that the old cam-lock connectors, when new, were also as
tight as a drum. The "flex" we noticed was simply the result of wear and
tear -- it was not by design.

The only downside of the new system: It takes FOREVER to install the danged
things. (Which, of course, was the idea behind the quick-release cam-lock
connectors in the first place...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"