birdus
Well-Known Member
Long story short, the drag wire fittings on my wings (Super Baby Great Lakes) are too tight to fit a washer in there. Let me explain how these wires work. On one end, you jam two nuts together. They just move (as one with the wire) when you rotate the wire for adjustment. On the other end, there are two nuts that you jam together outside the fitting to get your wrench on to turn the wire (along with the nuts at the other end). You hold the nylon lock nut still in the fitting at that end. When you turn the nearby nuts (and the whole wire and nuts at the other end), the lock nut you're holding screws on and off the wire so as to increase and decrease its tension.
So, back to the far end. If I put a washer in there, the nuts don't have enough room to rotate inside the fitting, and thus the drag wire's tension can't be adjusted. There's no question in my mind that not having a washer there will never cause the assembly to fail. Like most other things on this plane, it's overbuilt. If anything, the small nuts or the threads on the aluminum drag wire would fail. Anyway, my question is this: is this something the FAA examiner is going to have a problem with when he does my pre-cover inspection? I'm in the process of putting together my first of four wings and there's no end to the suckage there would be if I had to completely disassemble the wings and make forty new drag wire fittings that had enough room to add a washer. If so, can anyone think of an alternate solution?
Thanks,
Jay
So, back to the far end. If I put a washer in there, the nuts don't have enough room to rotate inside the fitting, and thus the drag wire's tension can't be adjusted. There's no question in my mind that not having a washer there will never cause the assembly to fail. Like most other things on this plane, it's overbuilt. If anything, the small nuts or the threads on the aluminum drag wire would fail. Anyway, my question is this: is this something the FAA examiner is going to have a problem with when he does my pre-cover inspection? I'm in the process of putting together my first of four wings and there's no end to the suckage there would be if I had to completely disassemble the wings and make forty new drag wire fittings that had enough room to add a washer. If so, can anyone think of an alternate solution?
Thanks,
Jay
