Landing Gear Mounts Drilled

The newly designed landing gear mounts are additionally bolted to the side of the fuselage. The holes in the sides of the gear mounts must be drilled by the builder.

The gear mounts are temporarily bolted into place with 4 bolts. Some of these are fairly snug and I used boelube to help ease them into place.

Steel guide plates are provided for match drilling the holes. I added reflective tape to these to make it easier to keep the drill bit perpendicular.

I started with a #30 bit and slowly upsized the hole. I finished the final size with a 0.247 reamer.

The holes came out well and the bolts fit snugly. Removing the gear mount to deburr was a challenge as it was difficult to get the outermost lower bolt out. There is not enough room between the spar bulkheads and no room to get a socket on the bolt. With a bit of creative leverage I was finally able to get the bolt back out.

The right side was a repeat of the left and went a little more quickly. I did have to spend a little extra time on opening up the hole in the bottom skins to get the mount tight against the forward bulkhead.

Both sides needed a 0.040″ shim on the lower part of the gear mount so I made two of those and primed them.

The gear mounts are ready to install!