Stripped wheel cover thread on nose gear

[0TreeLemur]

One of the wheel cover holes on the nose gear of my J is stripped.   Since I've owned the plane it's always been a bit "squishy" when I tried to snug it up.   After this year's annual it gave way and won't stay in.

I gather it is: 040-08700 CLEVELAND NOSE WHEEL ASSEMBLY.   Anyone have experience?   Does anyone have a cross-sectional drawing of this wheel showing the maximum depth of those holes?   I'd want to know that before trying to rethread, helicoil (unlikely to work) or install a thread-locking insert.

Thx.

[N201MKTurbo]

Why wouldn’t a Helicoil work?

[0TreeLemur]

25 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Why wouldn’t a Helicoil work?

In my experience #10 and smaller helicoils are hit or miss.   Maybe others have better luck with them, but I don't.

[EricJ]

23 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

In my experience #10 and smaller helicoils are hit or miss.   Maybe others have better luck with them, but I don't.

You could just tap it for the next size screw, which you'd have to do with a helicoil, anyway.

[0TreeLemur]

1 hour ago, EricJ said:

You could just tap it for the next size screw, which you'd have to do with a helicoil, anyway.

Somebody did that in the past.   It was a #10.   I'd rather not have a #12 in there.  

You guys are just full of good information!.  My original question - does anyone have info on the dimensions of that wheel?  I want to put in a thread locking insert.  Before I do, I would like to know if there is enough metal to do that.

[N201MKTurbo]

I worked on an electronic assembly system for missiles. Every tap had a Helicoil. They had Helicoils on #4 screws. They were all perfect. I was bidding on a system to automatically insert the helicoils.

They were all tangless inserts. And not necessarily the Helicoil brand.

[Flyler]

I hate to be yet another guy to not answer your question, but I always liked the time-serts better than helicoil.

[MikeOH]

3 minutes ago, Flyler said:

I hate to be yet another guy to not answer your question, but I always liked the time-serts better than helicoil.

Why?

[Flyler]

2 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

Why?

I would just always end up with the heilcoils unwinding or binding as they went in, or the tang on the bottom would snap off. Plus they always came with a tap, and as a machinist I was super suspicious of any "freebie" tap.  If it wasn't a spiral point gun tap it had better have a damn good explanation for why!

Maybe in aluminum it isn't such a big deal.

[MikeOH]

2 minutes ago, Flyler said:

I would just always end up with the heilcoils unwinding or binding as they went in, or the tang on the bottom would snap off. Plus they always came with a tap, and as a machinist I was super suspicious of any "freebie" tap.  If it wasn't a spiral point gun tap it had better have a damn good explanation for why!

Maybe in aluminum it isn't such a big deal.

LOL!

As a definite NON machinist, I always appreciated having the correct tap supplied!

[0TreeLemur]

1 hour ago, MikeOH said:

end up with the heilcoils unwinding or binding as they went in, or the tang on the bottom would snap off

^^^^ This.

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Flyler said:

If it wasn't a spiral point gun tap it had better have a damn good explanation for why!

Maybe in aluminum it isn't such a big deal.

When hand tapping, I always preferred a tapered tap, followed by a bottoming tap for blind holes.

With helicoils or other threaded inserts provided by equipment OEMs, I generally used what they sent for installation. 

[N201MKTurbo]

You can always fill the stripped hole with JB weld, drill and tap it for the original size.just don’t torque it too much. The helicoil is a better fix.

[0TreeLemur]

1 minute ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You can always fill the stripped hole with JB weld, drill and tap it for the original size.just don’t torque it too much. The helicoil is a better fix.

That would work great if it's just me and my screwdriver.   One trip to a shop and there go the threads.

[N201MKTurbo]

12 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

That would work great if it's just me and my screwdriver.   One trip to a shop and there go the threads.

You can always take the hub caps off before you take it to the shop and then put them back on yourself afterwards.

[PT20J]

I’d just use a depth gauge to measure one of the good holes. They take pretty short screws. If someone puts in too long a screw it will break through the soft magnesium wheel and rub on the tube. 

[Yetti]

https://www.parker.com/content/dam/Parker-com/Literature/Aircraft-Wheel---Brake-Division/AWB-Static-Files-for-Literature/AWBCMM0001.pdf

[N201MKTurbo]

3 hours ago, Yetti said:

https://www.parker.com/content/dam/Parker-com/Literature/Aircraft-Wheel---Brake-Division/AWB-Static-Files-for-Literature/AWBCMM0001.pdf

It doesn’t give torque values for the wheel cover screws. Or repair procedures. It doesn’t give the screw sizes either.

[MikeOH]

5 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

It doesn’t give torque values for the wheel cover screws. Or repair procedures. It doesn’t give the screw sizes either.

WOW!  You read the whole thing!  I got bored after page 20

[N201MKTurbo]

16 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

WOW!  You read the whole thing!  I got bored after page 20

I used search.

[MikeOH]

7 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I used search.

So, the info could still be somewhere in those 84 pages

[N201MKTurbo]

FWIW, they have parts breakdowns on line that have all the part numbers. They should have the screw sizes.

[N201MKTurbo]

5 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

So, the info could still be somewhere in those 84 pages

Show me….

[MikeOH]

5 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Show me….

As I said, I got bored after 20 pages

[Yetti]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

It doesn’t give torque values for the wheel cover screws. Or repair procedures. It doesn’t give the screw sizes either.

It was the least snarky reply I could come up with and was the like 4th thing in the google search after doing a right click search.

Other snarky replies I thought of:

1 RTFM

2.  how hard would it be to go stick your digital caliper in the hole and know for sure.

3.  As if you are going to find a bottom tap to fix it

4. I kind of liked the JB weld response.    

5.  Rotate a couple of degrees and drill 3 new holes.   See number 3 about a bottom tap

6. Since they are magnesium you have the added issue of lighting your plane on fire.

7.  Are the covers even necessary?   They are to the inside while the wheel is up.