Wheel pants and mud scrapers

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 2:29 pm

The paint shop is having a small problem mounting one of my wheel pants. It seems that the mud scraper is too close to the tire. Question: Is the mud scraper just that - a mud scraper, or is it a structural component that is required to be there when mounting the wheel pants? Can the wheel pants be mounted without it and not cause and damage to the pants from use?

I occasionally land on grass strips, but it's mostly paved stuff. They'd be mounted probably 6-8 months out of the year (taken off for winter).

Post by **GAHorn** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:17 pm

As a portion of the entire assembly, the mud scraper is required. (do you need rod bearings in an engine?)

The mud scrapers lend strength to the sidewalls of the fairing as well as prevent mud from packing into the rear of the fairing and jamming the tire, cracking/breaking the fairing.. I'd suggest you find out why they are scraping the tire and correct the problem. (But I've seen fairings operated without them, I just don't know if there's a record of how long/without problems. It turned out that the owner had tried to install them upside down.)

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:43 pm

thanks George. Talked to the paint shop and it sounds like they resolved the problem.

R COLLINS · Post by **R COLLINS** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:39 am

Doug,
I have metal wheel pants on my plane and one has a scraper and the other one is missing too. It will not hurt it this way as long as you check for build up in the back of the one without a scraper. Any dirt that is allowed to build up in there and stay a while will add unwanted weight and promote corrosion. My scraper(s) has an attach screw at the top and bottom and dont really touch the sides so I don't think that they support the sides structurally. I believe mine are from a Luscombe so yours may be different. A word of caution, repeated landings on turf with tall grass could abraid your new paint from the front of the wheel pant anyway, so you might prefer to keep it on the hard stuff for awhile. Randal

Curtis Brown · Post by **Curtis Brown** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 8:20 pm

I remember somewhere someone was talking about the mounting of wheel pants. After a search I did not come up with it. My question is: are the pants mounted parallel with the fuselage or the ground. Mine are mounted parallel with the ground.

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:58 pm

Parallel to the ground. Numerous factory photos show it so, but a few "artists" illustrations show it parallel to the fuselage.
Think about it this way: The idea is to streamline for relative wind. The upper surface is curved and with the lower surface parallel to the ground the upper surface rides with the least amount of drag that way.
Tilting the pants aft, like so many are wont to do thinking it offers less drag, is actually increasing drag,...as it causes a "cupping" of the relative wind.
Also, unless the lower surface is parallel to the ground, many wheel chocks will not fit against the aft side of the tire, and may damage the fairing.