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antisplat nose job help please!

dwranda

Well Known Member
I'm having trouble mounting my nose job. I called Allan and told him my problem and he sent me some new bolts which worked great, but the problem still exists. The clamp won't close enough to seat up against the brace. I can't even get in the permanent bolts far enough to get a nut on them. I'm attaching 3 pics. Can those who have installed this see if I'm doing something wrong? One side contacts the brace well but the other side is still at such an angle that it just doesn't work. You can see the bolt closest to the camera barely exits the hole.
20200712-122308.jpg

20200712-122259.jpg

20200712-122253.jpg
 
I have the nose job on my 7A. It's been a long time since I installed it... like 8 or 9 years so my memory is being really challenged. If I remember correctly..... I don't recall there being a space between mine like I see in yours. I'd contact him again with the pics and see what he says.

Edited: In the top two pics there appears to be only one brace like I remember mine. I don't understand your bottom picture. Is there two braces? Has the design been changed?
 
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No there's just the brace and the clamp. The bottom pic is from underneath and the brace is out of focus but it shows the gap at the clamp near the leg. I'm sure Allan will see this thread, but being a Sunday thought I'd see what others have experienced. I see they make these for Glasair too. Could I have gotten a wrong clamp?
 
YOu sure it not on upside down? Gear leg is tapered, so assuming the clamp is tapered as well. Looks like you can slide the unit down an inch or two as well for a better fit.

Larry
 
Nope it's on right side up. I've slid the clamp down a bit on the leg just to see if it fit better but it doesn't. It's within an inch of the 8" that's on the instructions. It also can't go any further down because it will hit the fairing.
 
Anti-splat nose job 2

I just did this job last week on my 1998 RV-6A with no issues. Is it possible that the more modern gear leg taper or diameter has been changed over the years to strengthen it? It would be beneficial in sorting the issue to get a diameter measurement of the gear leg at the top of the bracket.
 
same problem

I couldn't get mine to close, and the provided bolts had really neat heads, but my socket slipped off easily.
I squeezed the clamp nearly shut with a C-clamp, and got some standard bolts and locknuts instead of the groovy ones.
Only took about seven hours of messing around.
then the fairing wouldn't fit, so took the whole thing off and ground the main bar to a point on the bottom edge, but this was an early version, and I was trying to make it fit into a stock fairing.
One other note, I put a wrap of electrical tape at the top and bottom of the leg right aligned with the little pad on the antisplat bar. After a few landings and taxiing around, I deduced that there was no contact of the new bar with the gear leg in normal ops....I left the tape there as a witness mark should I land hard and wonder if the gear deflected enough for the A/S to engage.
 
I like the idea of the tape on the leg. I'll probably do that. I bought the nose job in February so it should be the right size for the current gear leg I would think. I do know there's no way it will fit properly around the leg.
 
As I recall I had to get longer high strength bolts to start since the ones that came with the clamp were too short. The first long bolts I tried were hardware store quality and kept snapping. Had to tighten them up a little at a time in sequence and the clamp finally seated. Then I replaced the longer bolts with the shorter bolts one at a time till they were all in. I’m pretty sure I reversed direction on every other bolt.
 
Is you leg powder coated? It could be that you have changed the diameter enough that the clamp won't fit. Or you could have a clamp that is out of spec.
It has been several years, but mine bolted right up without issue.
 
Is you leg powder coated? It could be that you have changed the diameter enough that the clamp won't fit. Or you could have a clamp that is out of spec.
It has been several years, but mine bolted right up without issue.

Leg is as it came from Vans.
 
Had the same issue a few months back on an RV9A.

See how you've got a slight air gap at certain points between the clamp and the leg? We torqued the curved bolts to 150 in-lbs and had the same result. The way instructions were written seemed to suggest the torque limit was for the curved bolts.

We eventually came to the conclusion the torque was for the final install bolts and ended up tightening the curved bolts until that clamp was fully seated all the way around and flush on the spacer plate.
 
antisplat nose job 2

You've probably got it on by now, but FWIW...
I installed the Nose Job 2 on my -7 a couple weeks ago and also had some trouble closing the clamp enough to get the short permanent bolts through the clamp and secured with nuts. I used the curved bolts but agree they don't work that well. The clamp wants to reopen after you remove the curved bolts.
My picture could have been yours...it looks like you just need one more thread on the permanent bolts to be exposed to get the nuts on. I alternated the curved bolts in the holes as you are doing. Stick with it, you'll get it.

I left my nose wheel on the floor to fit the Nose Job but realized after speaking with Allan that it would have been much easier if I had just elevated the nose. This is because the biggest challenge I had was refitting the leg fairing over the brace with the piano style hinge...sliding the hinge pin in from below with the wheel on the ground was no easy task. I also needed to slide the brace up the leg further than advertised to get the wheel pant back on. Allan said this wouldn't affect performance.
 
Nope I don't have it on yet. The clamp just seems too small. Many people are having the same issue and if it was redesigned being just a little bigger it would go on in 10 minutes. I have spent hours messing with it and just don't see how I can get it compressed any more. One side is perfectly flush with the brace but the other side is at such an angle because of the gap the bolt won't fit right.
I have tightened the 5 curved bolts as much as I can and the clamp won't budge any more. I have an email in to Allan and am waiting on a reply. I have 3 of his other mods and am very happy with those but this one...............
 
Try Different Bolts?

When I installed the Nose Job on my -9A recently, I had the same problem. I solved it by using button head bolts that were very slightly longer. The button heads were slightly lower profile so the leg fairing fit without much trouble.
 
When you spend this much on this item it should fit right and you shouldn't have to go buy different bolts.
 
What if you put anti-sieze between the clamp and the rod so the clamp can slide on the rod rather than bind up......
 
Please let us know what you learn from Allen. I have a 9A with the same problem and was never able to finish the installation.
 
It's amazing this is the first I've heard of this problem yet a bunch of people are having it. I wish i could have taken the plane to Allan to have it installed because he says he does 4 or 5 a week. I believed he shipped me out a new clamp today.
 
Verify your gear leg diameter. It should be .625" at the small end tapering up to .875" at the large end where it goes in the engine mount.
 
Verify your gear leg diameter. It should be .625" at the small end tapering up to .875" at the large end where it goes in the engine mount.

You must be thinking of a different leg because mine was .95 where the bottom of where the clamp needed to be and .965 at the top.
 
Here is the resolution to my clamp problem. Allan called me on the 16th to discuss the problem. He found me in the ER with chest pain so we decided when I was able I would measure the leg and if it was within the proper margin he would pre squeeze another clamp and send it to me.
He made a joke that hey maybe I would die and he wouldn't have to send me anything. I laughed and took it as a joke like it was because I'm not a snowflake. Well he must have felt bad for making the joke after hanging up because I believe it was within hours he shipped me a new clamp that he pre bent and all new bolts even though I didn't need them.
We had agreed on the phone to wait until I was out of the hospital for him to send it. Well as is the case time and time again, his customer service was outstanding.
So did the new one fit? YES!! My son installed it for me since I'm not allowed to do anything.:( He says the clamps are identical so the difference must have been that I bent the first clamp open wide to get it over the leg and must have deformed it somehow. His video on youtube shows him hitting it with a hammer to pop it over the leg. We did that on this one and it fit perfectly.
Allan, thanks for the great customer service and keep that sense of humor!!
 
Glad to hear things were resolved.

But I wonder what is up with the difference in diameter of the gear legs. I wonder if they started making them larger diameter over the years.

I apologize to the OP if this seems to be a hijack. I hope not.

Does anyone know if the gear leg has increased in diameter over the years?
 
David,
Glad it worked out. Alan is good people and his creativity always amazes me. Hopefully, the chest pain is resolved as well. Hope you're feeling better!

David
 
David,
Glad it worked out. Alan is good people and his creativity always amazes me. Hopefully, the chest pain is resolved as well. Hope you're feeling better!

David

Thanks, Yeah the chest pain was resolved with a little open heart surgery:mad: Just a tip for others.....if you have a burning chest and burning forearms when you exert yourself a bit then don't wait a month for tests that your cardiologist scheduled for you. Go to the ER and get the tests now. I'm lucky to be here!!
I've bought a few things from Allan and always had great support.
 
Thanks, Yeah the chest pain was resolved with a little open heart surgery:mad: Just a tip for others.....if you have a burning chest and burning forearms when you exert yourself a bit then don't wait a month for tests that your cardiologist scheduled for you. Go to the ER and get the tests now. I'm lucky to be here!!.

Takeaway from all of this, don't build a -A and get yourself a taildragger instead so you don't end up having to get heart surgeries ! ;)


Glad you're doing great. I got a scare a few years ago when my blood pressure shot up inexplicably making me sell my T41a because I knew I wasn't going to be able to renew my medical so I was going to have to buy an LSA. 3 years fast forward and today I have a medical and an RV8, so life is good and medicine has my blood pressure where it's suppose to be.
 
Takeaway from all of this, don't build a -A and get yourself a taildragger instead so you don't end up having to get heart surgeries ! ;)


Glad you're doing great. I got a scare a few years ago when my blood pressure shot up inexplicably making me sell my T41a because I knew I wasn't going to be able to renew my medical so I was going to have to buy an LSA. 3 years fast forward and today I have a medical and an RV8, so life is good and medicine has my blood pressure where it's suppose to be.

Wow if I had known then that the A model would cause my heart issue I would have gone the taildragger route.:D I wonder what not priming does?
 
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