I need to remove the landing gear from a 50cc SBach 342. It's held onto the outside by nuts.



There are bolts on the inside. You can see them here - this is looking down from above the airplane. Sorry it's out of focus.



You can see the threads of two bolts (highlighted in green) that are horizontally mounted. The heads of these are neither visible nor accessible, appearing as if I'd have to cut some covering to get at them. And the shafts are blocking access to the bolt heads (highlighted in red) that hold the gear on. I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going on here and hope that someone more familiar with giant scale might be able to shed some light.

Cheers!

I don't quite have a full understanding of your problem....The two horizontal bolts can be cut to shorten the extra length,if that's what is keeping you from loosening the gear bolts.

I have,on occasion,drilled a 1/16" hole through a bolt head,and pushed a piece of music wire through the hole as a 'lock',to hold it while removing the nut.

Cutting a bit of covering away is not a big deal... if that's in fact the only thing that is needed to reach the "horizontal" screws.. Its possible the horizontal screws are holding the LG plate in...

I just might bet if you cut a tad of covering to allow access to those screws.. remove those.. the whole plate/gear ass'ly will come out as one. Then simply unscrew the LG from the plate.

I'm pretty sure thats how its designed... check it out.

BTW.. why do you have to remove the LG?

Thanks for the input, folks.

The plane is new to me but not new. The gear itself is twisted to the point that the port side wheel is about an inch further aft than starboard. I wanted to remove the gear both to replace it and to check how the mounting area might be affected.

In any case the previous owner (an experienced builder) is in my area and has offered to replace the gear and repair the mount for me - so I'll likely go that route.

Why is there a hinge plugging your fuel line?

Originally Posted by Curare

Why is there a hinge plugging your fuel line?

To keep the fuel in ? lol

Lol, I do that when I store mine as well.

Whatever is handy, I guess.

Without seeing the model I'm guessing that the horizontal bolts are holding the engine mount in place. To get at the LG screws you will need to remove the cowl and engine. Then when you re-fit all this stuff you may want to consider replacing the nuts for the horizontal screws with T nuts that pull into the plywood bulkhead and shorten the screws so that they do not block the LG screw heads. I would also suggest that the LG screws be replaced with internal nut plates where nuts are soldered to the plate and the plate is secured with glue or small screws so you can use screws inserted from below for a smoother look than the exposed screws and nuts that are there at present.

I'm assuming those are not 1/4-20. If it were me (and this is just my opinion), I would cut the bolts off from the out side with a cutoff wheel, punch the bolts through and shake them out. Drill and tap the wood for 1/4-20 and use nylon bolts. Saves the gear mounts in an accident. The right way to do it would be to use 1/4-20 T-nuts, but since you say you dont have access, may not be an option. I would grind it more open for accessibility.
Edwin