Cobra top hinge plate bolt failure

On May 23, 7:48*am, Ian Reekie wrote:
When the bolts are removed what stops the aluminium cross member from ripping out
of the top shell. I assume it is glued in ?

It is riveted to the top side rails. However one US owner has found
all rivets sheared. All mine seem ok.

In any event you should only change one bolt at a time!

Andy

Interesting, I took a couple of pictures of the hinge and they seem to show
no structural connection from the side rails to my cross member ?
I am flying tomorrow so I will examine this further, but I wonder if they
varied the construction. Many of my aluminium support brackets are glued
to the shell with what looks like a black polyurethane glue, similar to
that used in the car industry to glue panels. I assumed this was the case
for this cross member.
I agree that It would be ideal to change one bolt at a time, but I was
thinking of implement Steve Koerners mod which I believe would require you
to remove both bolts to get the 1/4" spacer under the handle ?


It is riveted to the top side rails. However one US owner has found
all rivets sheared. All mine seem ok.

In any event you should only change one bolt at a time!

Andy

Interesting, I took a couple of pictures of the hinge and they seem to show
no structural connection from the side rails to my cross member ?
I am flying tomorrow so I will examine this further, but I wonder if they
varied the construction. Many of my aluminium support brackets are glued
to the shell with what looks like a black polyurethane glue, similar to
that used in the car industry to glue panels. I assumed this was the case
for this cross member.
I agree that It would be ideal to change one bolt at a time, but I was
thinking of implement Steve Koerners mod which I believe would require you
to remove both bolts to get the 1/4" spacer under the handle ?


It is riveted to the top side rails. However one US owner has found
all rivets sheared. All mine seem ok.

In any event you should only change one bolt at a time!

Andy

On May 23, 10:39*am, Ian Reekie wrote:
Interesting, I took a couple of pictures of the hinge and they seem to show
no structural connection from the side rails to my cross member ?
I am flying tomorrow so I will examine this further, but I wonder if they
varied the construction. *Many of my aluminium support brackets are glued
to the shell with what looks like a black polyurethane glue, similar to
that used in the car industry to glue panels. *I assumed this was the case
for this cross member.
I agree that It would be ideal to change one bolt at a time, but I was
thinking of implement Steve Koerners mod which I believe would require you
to remove both bolts to get the 1/4" spacer under the handle ?





It is riveted to the top side rails. However one US owner has found
all rivets sheared. All mine seem ok.

In any event you should only change one bolt at a time!

Andy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Mine also has the black glue. Email me and I'll send you a photo that
shows the rivet locations.

It should be easy to change one bolt at a time even when introducing
the new plate. Just leave the first new bolt slightly loose so the
plate can be rotated into alignment after the second bolt is removed.

Even if you decide to remove the handle to work on it you can still
put bolts in place to maintain the alignment.

Having dealt with this issue once I would go to great length to ensure
that both bolts were never removed at the same time.

If you want all the bolts out then raising the top, disconnecting the
gas struts, and then doing all the hinge work with the top closed may
be the way to go. You'll need several strong friends or an overhead
hoist though.

Andy