RV8A to RV8 Conversion – Adding the tailwheel

Installing a tailwheel assembly into a basically finished RV-8A tail was one of the unknowns.

It looked to be fairly simple, but as I tried to wiggle the tailwheel weldment (WD409) into place without removing anything significant  that proved impossible.

Then I tried simply to start the cutout for the tube, hoping it would free up enough room for rear part for the weldment to poke through the skin and allow the piece to settle into position.  No joy there either.

Finally the last resort choice was to drill out the skin, and lift it up, clam-shell style,  enough so that the weldment would pop into place, which it did. (see below)

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Here is a rear view placing and preparing to drill.

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WD-409 painted and the AN4 bolts torqued.  The original primer got fairly scuffed in during the surgery but I’ll buff out and repaint everything before re-assembly.

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Notice reference marks made with Sharpie before I removed the skin to help in repositioning the  skin correctly.  The reason is that the bulkheads are a little flexible and will shift as the skin is re-positioned so using the the rivet holes alone as a reference isn’t good.

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Tomorrow I’ll get it zipped up (i.e. riveted) and start on the main gear install.  Sah-weeeet!