Nosewheel Pant Alignment issues

[bjdecker]

Spent the better part of two days trying to get the nose wheel pant to fit correctly.

Discovered that Van's had either a 1) manufacturing variance or 2) shipped the wrong part or 3) ???

The U-01431-L & -R are supposed to be mirrored. In our case the -R part is "skinnier" and the primary bends are not parallel.

 

[Ralph Inkster]

Similar miss matched brackets came with some of the nose pants I've installed. I bent them to as close shape for initial fittings but invariably reshaped them as needed to work. They never aligned perfectly to the inner fiberglass surface. I would mix up a batch of flox paste & apply it to the inner fiberglass areas under the bracket/flange locations, cover it with thin plastic, than gently position the wheel pant over the brackets/fork/wheel assembly, prop it up in proper alignment & let the flox cure. Later after curing, I'd pull it all apart, clean up the new flox pads & drill the brackets to the wheel pants as there is now a clear imprint pattern inside the pant where the brackets & holes should be.

 

[bjdecker]

Similar miss matched brackets came with some of the nose pants I've installed. I bent them to as close shape for initial fittings but invariably reshaped them as needed to work. They never aligned perfectly to the inner fiberglass surface. I would mix up a batch of flox paste & apply it to the inner fiberglass areas under the bracket/flange locations, cover it with thin plastic, than gently position the wheel pant over the brackets/fork/wheel assembly, prop it up in proper alignment & let the flox cure. Later after curing, I'd pull it all apart, clean up the new flox pads & drill the brackets to the wheel pants as there is now a clear imprint pattern inside the pant where the brackets & holes should be.

Thanks Ralph -- unfortunately, this isn't a minor misalignment. There's about 3/4 of an inch between the wheel pant and the bracket "tangs" ...way too much to adjust with flox IMHO...

Checked part numbers, etc. It almost feels like the wheel pant is for a 6x6.00 tire -- which I know isn't in Van's inventory. Still head scratching.

 

[Ralph Inkster]

Thanks Ralph -- unfortunately, this isn't a minor misalignment. There's about 3/4 of an inch between the wheel pant and the bracket "tangs" ...way too much to adjust with flox IMHO...

Checked part numbers, etc. It almost feels like the wheel pant is for a 6x6.00 tire -- which I know isn't in Van's inventory. Still head scratching.

Any chance you received a RV10 pant in error. Can somebody measure the width of a 6/7/8/9 pant, 14, & 10 pants to compare?

 

[bjdecker]

Any chance you received a RV10 pant in error. Can somebody measure the width of a 6/7/8/9 pant, 14, & 10 pants to compare?

14 and 10 share the same nose wheel pant -- U-01013A & B...

 

[PaulvS]

I recently received brackets for a 7A nose wheel pant and they look different (no lightening holes) to the 10/14 brackets, so probably your brackets are not for a different model... not sure what is the problem though, maybe manufacturing error?