Brief Description: Drill axle shaft, mount nose strut
Received my new axle shaft today (messed up original part - drilled off-center).
Clamped everything tight in the drill press, lubed the bit, and drilled away. Perfect. Cleaned up the threads, up-drilled the pilot hole to fit the cotter pin, and then assembled and set aside.
Since I painted the lower nose strut mounting plate yesterday and since I had the new axle, I could finally proceed with mounting the nose strut.
Slid the donuts down a bit to ensure the strut fit all the way up into the strut bearing pocket. Installed the lower bearing block and the mounting plate. Using two screw-drivers to pry-up the donuts, I adjusted them and tightened the two ring clamps holding everything in place. Installed lower bearing block bolts and thru-bolts. Ready to tighten up and safety wire.