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Michaels Sonex #145 log
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Date: 10-11-2012
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Number of Hours: 0.50
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Manual Reference: L01
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Brief Description: Oh crap!
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Tonight, I put the legs and axles back on the aircraft and used the angle/ toe-on tools again to make sure I they were still in place correctly.
Oh crap! they are not, the left axle is fine but somewhere the right axle must have moved before drilling it on the drill press, it has rotated about 2-3 degrees outward.
What to do now? Scrap the axle and gear leg order new ones and start over? That's an expensive mistake.
I did some research on the Sonex forums and it seems other people who ran into similar problems have flipped the legs around, rotated them 90 degrees and drilled new holes in the existing legs rather than order new ones.
Sounds like a good solution but I have sent an email to Kerry at Sonex to make sure I can do this.
Here's Kerry's reply:
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Hi Michael,
You have two options: You can flip and rotate the gear leg as you described, or you can weld the holes in the axle shut and drill new ones, using the existing hole in the gear leg. To do this you would drill a small hole in one side of the repaired axle and then slowly enlarge it to match the hole in the gear leg. With that done you can then insert a drill bit and complete drilling the axle.
I feel this first option offers the best choice and it reduces the risk of another drilling error which will for sure make your gear leg scrap.
Blue Skies,
Kerry Fores
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So yes, I can flip and rotate the legs, great news!
I will order another axle though because I am not confident I can drill the new hole through the leg, using the 1/4" hole in the axle as a guide without enlarging that hole, but that's only a $50 cost (compared to $275 for a new leg).
So while I'm waiting for the new axle to arrive, I'll have to work on the tail wheel installation I guess.
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Oh crap!
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