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Lower Cowl removal


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52 minutes ago, Sandman993 said:

Those get loose and sometimes fall off when released...don't lose, although they are available... will shut you down while you wait for new ones to arrive. Most find that out when they blow them across the ramp at the leak check run.

Blue painter tape is your friend.

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33 minutes ago, Oldguy said:

Blue painter tape is your friend.

I've heard that about altitude too. I actually used 2" blue painters tape to cover my fuel caps at oshkosh...Somewhere around 5-6 inches of rain...I don't trust those caps even though I overhaul em from time to time. It also comes in handy when the old lady gets a little too yappy...duct tape works better for that though.

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Re fuel caps: Switch to the blue fluorosilicone o rings and make sure your caps are appropriately tight but not over tight. 

I’m more concerned about water sitting in the low set ring and causing corrosion to the filler neck than I am about water entering these days

If the cowl flap disconnects are sometimes stuck pretty good with oil and grime.  A little tri-flow is your friend  

I have gotten exactly one oil change with a maintenance shop outside or annuals.  That was the first one and the last - shop charged 45 min labor to remove and replace cowl.  Next oil change I learned it took about 5 min off and 5 min back on.  

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See if these help:

 

Cowl flap ball joint parts list.PNG

Cowl flap ball joint.PNG

You essentially hold the cowl flap itself, lift up the smooth portion of 20 (where the arrow is pointing in the diagram), and while lifting, separate the #19 assembly from the #20 portion by moving #19 to the side. What you do not see in this diagram is the ball-shaped end of the bolt captured by #20.

Maybe too confusing a description, but I tried. :unsure:

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14 hours ago, Duane Baker said:

Any pictures/ diagrams. Mine looks like castle nuts with cotter pins.

I have had one of these get tight, and would not slide up and down as easily as normal.  If this was the case on your first try to do it, you would never recognize the portion that slides up to release the ball-end nub (right next to the cowl flap).  A little LPS loosened it up.  

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I attempted a solo lower cowl removal this weekend and gave up. 

(Doing the cowl flaps is easy when you now how they work as described above.) Removed the cowl flap hinges, removed the camlocks, but could only get the one side loose and was too worried about dropping the whole thing to the floor when wiggling the other side.

Would be great if someone can shoot a YouTube video of how to do this properly solo.  (Including exactly where to use painters tape etc for protection). And yes, I know it's ideally a 2-man job.

Edited by pwnel
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The key is to have a support under the lower cowling (with a few inches of clearance), so when it comes loose, it will swing down onto the support. I have a roll around stool that is just the right height. Handy since, I can then maneuver the stool and cowl out and over to the side of the hangar. (Somewhat more difficult now, since I installed a 3 blade prop.) Remember, you have the camlocks down the side and two in the center underneath. If you forget those two in the center, you would wonder why it won't come loose. Also remember the wiring for the landing light.

To reinstall, roll the cowling back under, and use coat-hanger wire (or slightly larger) to hook into a convenient hole about the middle of the cowl, and hook it onto something convenient at the top of the engine, pulling it up near the proper position. Then go to the other side and raise it by hand to attach a cam-lock. Then back to the side held up by the wire, pull it into position and cam-lock it. Watch the top rear corners, as they have to go behind the bodywork and in front of it at the same time. (That will be understandable when you look at it.) Don't forget the landing light. I have had to take my top cowl off to hook it up more times than I like to admit.  It is a bit of a pain, but not bad after the first few times. I have been removing and replacing mine alone for 19 years now.

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Like all owner aircraft maintenance, its best to get your local A&P to do it with you together the first time so that you can learn how to do it properly. This included R&R'ing the cowling, changing the oil, inspecting the cut open oil filter, checking and lubricating control linkages and looking over the plane for issues like exhaust leaks while it opened up for the oil change.

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I do it way too often by myself without a support. You have to be pretty flexible. Just leave the top two fasteners unlocked but pushed in. Crawl under the prop and hold the bottom of the cowl with one hand and reach up and work one of the fasteners loose, then switch hands and work the other fastener loose. All the while kind of stooping down in front of it. Don’t bang your head on the prop.

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49 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Like all owner aircraft maintenance, its best to get your local A&P to do it with you together the first time so that you can learn how to do it properly. This included R&R'ing the cowling, changing the oil, inspecting the cut open oil filter, checking and lubricating control linkages and looking over the plane for issues like exhaust leaks while it opened up for the oil change.

Yip, watched and helped with the process twice before, but nothing like trying it solo :).  Even have the handy Oil Easy Wrench on hand.  https://oileasy.com

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10 minutes ago, pwnel said:

Yip, watched and helped with the process twice before, but nothing like trying it solo :).  Even have the handy Oil Easy Wrench on hand.  https://oileasy.com

Great. For the first 10x times or so, I highly suggest you find anybody around just to grab the other side of the cowling since two people can get it on and off in seconds without scratching the cowling or the spinner. It took me years before I could do it like Rich describes above all by myself. But perhaps since I am not quite as flexible as Rich, I rest it on a stool on wheels and then from the front, I can push it into place and up and behind the spinner without scratching anything. But until you know it intimately,  a second set of hands will avoid scratching things. As somebody above also said, protective painters tape helps too.

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Get 2 rubber tie down straps with the large S hooks on the ends. Hook one end around a pushrod shroud tube and drape over the top of the crankcase and hook the opposite end in a lower cowling camloc socket. Do the same for the other side. Unfasten all the lower cowl camlocs. The cowl is now supported by the straps. Kneel in front and place one hand under the cowl to support it and remove the strap with the other hand. Then reverse the process for the second strap. Then lower the cowl and remove from the front. Reverse the process to reinstall. 

Skip

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I unfasten all the camlocks except the bottom two.  

Pull the top rear most camlocks out just a bit (the firewall side flange is sandwiched in between the outer fiberglass skin and inner retaining bar of the lower cowl). Move down to the bottom.  Undo the lower camlocks.  Always have a hand or your back or whatever to support the cowling.  Pull down and forward so that one of your sandwiched camlocks pops forward.  Then do the other side.  Always be supporting the weight of the cowl.  Store completely upside down not resting on the open cowl flap hinges.  

This makes no sense I’m sure.  I’ll put up a video when my plane is back from annual.  

Done this about 100x without a scratch or stress on the cowl.  

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15 hours ago, Sandman993 said:

Doing a cowl solo is asking for scratches and such...I've had mine off 50 times and I still ask for an extra set of hands when I do...off and on.

If you are lucky.

If you are not.... well, did you know fiberglass will tear and run when it twists? Ask me how I know. :(

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11 hours ago, bradp said:

I unfasten all the camlocks except the bottom two.  

Pull the top rear most camlocks out just a bit (the firewall side flange is sandwiched in between the outer fiberglass skin and inner retaining bar of the lower cowl). Move down to the bottom.  Undo the lower camlocks.  Always have a hand or your back or whatever to support the cowling.  Pull down and forward so that one of your sandwiched camlocks pops forward.  Then do the other side.  Always be supporting the weight of the cowl.  Store completely upside down not resting on the open cowl flap hinges.  

This makes no sense I’m sure.  I’ll put up a video when my plane is back from annual.  

Done this about 100x without a scratch or stress on the cowl.  

Sounds like you're trying to undress a 21 yr old virgin

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