Laser tiedown/jackpoint

[TheTurtle]

There were no instructions from laser on the tiedowns.

Anybody know how tight to tighten the bolt?  Should I use locktite?

[Marauder]

There were no instructions from laser on the tiedowns.

Anybody know how tight to tighten the bolt?  Should I use locktite?

I just tighten mine until they are snug. Never used Locktite on them.

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[laytonl]

Mine seemed to loosen at first so I used locktite and cinched them tight and haven't had any further issue.  Lee

[DaV8or]

I just screwed mine in. No torque spec that I know of. I didn't use any Loctite, but a little blue couldn't hurt. Just an FYI, folks that live in areas with real weather, where they have tornados and hurricanes laugh at these tie downs. I don't care because I'm a lilly white, fair weather California flyer. My plane spends little time on tie downs.

[TheTurtle]

Just now, DaV8or said:

I just screwed mine in. No torque spec that I know of. I didn't use any Loctite, but a little blue couldn't hurt. Just an FYI, folks that live in areas with real weather, where they have tornados and hurricanes laugh at these tie downs. I don't care because I'm a lilly white, fair weather California flyer. My plane spends little time on tie downs.

mine a socal bird as well.  these should be fine for me.

thanks for the input guys.

[carusoam]

Tighten enough that they don't loosen themselves.  Snug by hand, plus 1/8^th turn with a tool.  There is a hex tool that fits in there, right?

You can easily over torque these things with minimal effort.  They are pretty strong tensile bolts. They will probably strip the threads out of the receiving end.  So don't go nuts with it...

If nothing else check the Maintenace manual for a proper torque spec.  Or call Sherry at LASAR.  Somebody there can surely give you the advice you seek.

Since the recommendation for the original tie-down eyelets is to remove before flight, there must be an SB that goes with that.  Followed by, I don't think anyone is carrying a torque wrench with them every flight...

PP thoughts that come to mind...

Best regards,

-a-

[RobertGary1]

That's how you can tell if a student has really read through his POH. How many people read the part about removing the tiedowns before flight!

 

-Robert

[Jerry 5TJ]

7 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

That's how you can tell if a student has really read through his POH. How many people read the part about removing the tiedowns before flight!

I read it but I still leave them in place during flight:  Why exercise those aluminum threads more than you need to?   Better yet, get the Lasar tie-down set and you always have your jack points with you.

[RobertGary1]

Just now, Jerry 5TJ said:

I read it but I still leave them in place during flight:  Why exercise those aluminum threads more than you need to?   Better yet, get the Lasar tie-down set and you always have your jack points with you.

Honestly I just leave them until annual. I've not really had any motivation to try the Lasar ones. Just unscrew them at annual. Keep a pair of jackpoints in the misc tool box in the back.

 

-Robert

[1964-M20E]

My current F came with the LASAR tie-downs.  I have had them loosen a couple of times but that was due to the rope pulling on them when tying down the aircraft.

My previous E just had the rings.

I read in the book to remove before flight but why bother but then again I always had the perception that my former E was slow.  I guess if I had removed them I would have gained 5kts.

 

 

[M20F-1968]

The Lasar tie downs can and should be left in place.  I agree with not exercising the aluminum threads more than necessary.  The one problem with the Lasar set is that the tie down portion is not very long and if you have certain types of aircraft jacks (I have a set of Meyers jacks) that have a larger diameter ram, the tie down will be pushed upward by the jack ram and render it useless (can not get a rope into the hole).  I got some stainless steel angle, and spent a few hours in a machine shop making a more appropriate set of tie downs which I truly can leave in place at all times, and which do not interfere with my Meyers jacks (which are good stable aircraft jacks and would not change). 

As for jacking, I use the 2 Meyers, an engine hoist and a concrete tail jack (holding the aircraft with a fixed bolt).  The 4 points are very stable.

John Breda

[M20F-1968]

I might add, I purchased 90 degree stainless angle, used a hydraulic press to convert the angle to 45 degrees, and since I had bought the stainless thick enough to grind and sand, finished them until they looked good.

John Breda

[DonMuncy]

35 minutes ago, M20F-1968 said:

I might add, I purchased 90 degree stainless angle, used a hydraulic press to convert the angle to 45 degrees, and since I had bought the stainless thick enough to grind and sand, finished them until they looked good.

John Breda

What did you do to drill/punch the holes.

[Hank]

6 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

What did you do to drill/punch the holes.

It would makes sense to me to drill the holes first, while it's still 90° and easy to hold in a vise. Then squeeze it so the angle changes. Drill press or milling machine would work, or even a hand drill if you're careful. Make the hole big enough to get your rope through, and leave a nice edge around the inside so it doesn't chafe.

[M20F-1968]

Don:

I did it in a machine shop and used a Bridgeport vertical milling maching.

John Breda

[Yetti]

Someone had already buggard the threads, so they put a nut on the backside.  The threads are tapped in a piece of angle alum.  You have to grind down one side of the nut to make it fit.

[DaV8or]

The thing to do with those threads is drill them and put in a Heli-coil type steel insert. That's what I had to do with mine and now they are much stronger than original.

[Bob_Belville]

On 8/20/2016 at 6:19 PM, Marauder said:

I just tighten mine until they are snug. Never used Locktite on them.

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Inspired by this thread, I made a trip out to the airport today to put a Allen (hex) wrench on mine, which look like Marauder's, to snug them up. I was puzzled that a 3/8" SAE wrench did not quite fit and 5/16" was too small. I discovered there in no 11/64" Allen. I went home for a set of metrics and found that  4.5 mm would work and I snugged up the screw but Allen wrenches fit snug and this one had a little slack - I don't believe it is really metric. (There are very few metric sized anything on vintage Mooneys and I doubt LASAR spec'd a metric screw.)

Anyone know what's right? Chris, Lee do you remember what wrench you used?

A further puzzle, I backed a screw out about 3/8" - I was going to remove it and inspect it to see if the hex hole was damaged, and I discovered to my surprise that the screw could be pushed back up flush to the wing. I thought the screw was going into the spar since it is a solid jack point and I cannot visualize what the "nut/tapped hole" behind the sheet metal is like. A study of both the parts and maintenance manuals was no help.

There's always something to learn!   

[Yetti]

The threaded are tapped into a 1/8 thick piece of angle alum. not the most durable arrangement.  If you are going to leave them on, grind one side of a nut, open up the access panel that is right there and install the nut on the back side.   If you want to update the weight and balance you could do that too.  

[Bob_Belville]

11 hours ago, Yetti said:

The threaded are tapped into a 1/8 thick piece of angle alum. not the most durable arrangement.  If you are going to leave them on, grind one side of a nut, open up the access panel that is right there and install the nut on the back side.   If you want to update the weight and balance you could do that too.  

Thanks, that seems weird. I'll remove the access panel and check it out. So the jack point is not directly under the spar? 

[Raptor05121]

No, its like an -L bracket off the back side of the spar itself.

[podair]

My old tie down rings are worn out, or rather the threading in the wing no longer supports the ring. I ordered the Lasar ones a while back but now cannot find the bolts for them, so I thought this was an opportunity to fit those instead. I see in another post that the thread is 5/16-18NC. Obviously not really relevant anymore as the threading has gone on one of my points, but when I suggested fitting a nut on the other side my mechanic mentioned that re-threading it would put strain on the fuel tanks and hence induce leaks? Are these right under the tanks? You mention an access panel above so maybe that's not the case and these are nowhere near the tanks and easily accessible? I rarely tie down the aircraft as it mostly lives in a hangar or parked at an airfield without tiedowns so pretty academic for now but I'd rather have the option of fitting tie downs, have had pretty nasty overnight winds sometimes. My Mooney is a 1967 M20F.

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by podair

[Hector]

In my C the tiedowns are about 16 inches outboard of the tank. I know the F has bigger tanks so I'm not sure how close they are to the tiedowns. I remove my tiedowns and always carry them in the airplane in case I need them (hangared at home). It adds 20 Kts to cruise speed


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[Raptor05121]

Yup. Mine are in the back of the airplane as well, with a bit of speedtape over the holes. I've found you can easily tie down to the main wheel trusses.

[DonMuncy]

11 minutes ago, Hyett6420 said:

I do the same

You are swapping the full time speed loss for the occasional inconvenience of laying on the ground tying the main wheel trusses down?