Dg400 rigging tips

On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 2:56:26 PM UTC-8, Steve Cameron wrote:
Guys, I'm a new DG400 owner, and was wondering if there are any tips or suggestions that others have learned to help rigging. My ship came with an electric self rigger with remote, and the first time I used it I got the wings on with little problem. Today was a different story, not only did it take considerable time to get the wings in, but than I fought the spar pins for a while before throwing in the towel, figuring it just wasn't my day! Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Steve Cameron

The key to easy assembly of the 400 is alignment - if the wings are out of alignment no amount of pushing, hammering or swearing is going to get the spar pins in. As Paul mentioned, the wings need to be parallel to the fuselage, but that is not the only factor. The wing dihedral must also be correct.. You can check this by looking at the gap between the wing root and the fuse: it must be the same on the top and bottom. If it isn't, raise or lower the wing to get it the same (you can also raise or lower the fuselage, but only for the first wing). Just because the wing gap looks on the top side doesn't mean that the vertical (dihedral) is correct: you must also look on the bottom side.
Once both wings are in the gaps look good, I check spar bushing alignment be my special feeler gauge tool: my finger. Of course, you will be able to see gross misalignments visually, but this will not get you the whole way. If they have even the slightest misalignment, you will be able to feel it with your finger. Just rub it back and forth over the joint.
What needs correction depends upon where you feel a misalignment. If it is on the sides of the bushing, one of the wings (or both) need a fore/aft correction. If it is on the top or bottom, one or both of the wings need a vertical adjustment. The first time you go thru this just pick a direction and see if it makes the gap better or worse; if worse you went the wrong way.
I showed this method to another 400 owner who was having a similar experience to yours. He said he had his pins dripping in grease and they still wouldn't go in. I had him go thru this procedure with my dry pins and, once everything was in alignment, the pins slid in with next to no effort.

Tom