DA40 Wheel Pant

Any DA40 related topics

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caseyayers
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DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by caseyayers »

I knew something was bad when I felt a light yank under the right side while beginning to taxi out of my spot at home base KCRG today. While I still don't know how the coiled rope near my right main gear managed to get picked up, I saw that it had wound its way up the wheel pant, got stuck next to the brake, taken on tension, and then gashed up the back side of my wheel pant. I took off the other main gear wheel pant, left the nose wheel pant on, and had no trouble continuing on to KORL and back today. So, I have a few questions I'm hoping you all can help me with:

1) I already contacted Southeast Aero to see if they could repair it for me, but does anyone else have a shop recommendation? I saw one thread from several years ago mentioning one but am not certain if that remains up to date.

2)Does anyone know if there's much aerodynamic benefit from retaining the nose wheel pant, especially if the main gear pants are off?

3) Does anyone know the extra drag resulting from leaving the main gear pants off? I noticed some wear on the left tire that will lead to me replacing it, and it's such a pain to keep the tires inflated with the wheel pants on that I might just get it fixed, clean them both up, and leave them in the garage for the future.

Thanks for your help!
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Steve
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by Steve »

Wow! Seeing that photo makes me feel slightly less guilty about my OCD with respect to getting tie down ropes away from the landing gear and prop before taxiing.

With respect to your question, there may be an aerodynamic benefit from removing the nosegear pant, if yours is one of the aircraft that has frequent 'corking' of the nosegear (many threads on this).

I have left my gear pants on for 18+ years, and I like the appearance of the airplane better with them on. I doubt that there is more than a knot or two advantage, but my airplane is slower than the new ones, so I'll take what I can get. Plus, I only have to add air every 3-4 months, since I put in the air stop inner tubes.

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YCCA
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by YCCA »

Even though that looks bad it can be fixed relatively easy..
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caseyayers
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by caseyayers »

Yeah, I took it down to Southeast Aero and they should have it ready by tomorrow or Wednesday for a few hours' worth of work. Not too terrible. Honestly got pretty lucky with where the rope caught it.
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Sandy
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by Sandy »

I've used RMZ Aviation ( http://rmzaviation.com ) in Cartersville, GA (KVPC) for wheel pants (Phone 678.480.9946). They are fully equipped to do composite repair and very experienced with Diamonds, in particular, and I've been very pleased with their work on my main gear wheel pants in the past. I just dropped off my nose gear wheel pant, as it had a bad crack, and while there I saw that they had a DA42 that had landed gear up in the shop. I understand that they have another DA42 on the way to their shop due to a gear up landing, as well. They have done several DA20 wing repairs following prangs by student pilots.

Interesting comment by Steve about the possible aerodynamic benefit of removing the nose gear wheel pant, as I was surprised to see that my plane appears to be flying straighter and faster without the nose gear wheel pant. Also, it's a lot easier to attach the tug to the nose gear, and checking tire pressures is certainly easier without the wheel pants installed, although it does look better with the nose gear wheel pant installed.

Sandy
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Colin
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by Colin »

The last four years of my DA40 I did not have on the wheel pants. It was so much easier and I didn't care about the three knots.
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
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N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
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ultraturtle
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by ultraturtle »

Flying with no pants? Spicey...
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caseyayers
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by caseyayers »

Colin wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 10:46 pm The last four years of my DA40 I did not have on the wheel pants. It was so much easier and I didn't care about the three knots.
That's the data point I was looking for! I figured it was just a couple knots' difference, and that holds up based on my flights since taking the rear ones off. I should be picking up the repaired pant this week and I'll just keep it and the other two in storage for the future. It's so wildly easier to check the tires' condition that they're worth keeping off just for that, to me.
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BAA
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by BAA »

I was given the advice by the Forum to leave the pants on for OSH this year, despite bad conditions n the North 40, because of the protection they give to the wings and Flaps...one look inside the fairing confirms that...ended up being excellent advice.

I just did a similar but smaller repair on my other plane, a 150 Aerobat main fairing (Im just a PP but it is allowed under part 43, minor repairs to fairings) and it was super easy all done from the inside essentially, but has to be done right, ground-down to substrate, carbon fiber mat well bonded with composite epoxy, etc. (Surfer Supply in Mayport has carbon fiber mat) Fun to do if you like that sort of thing, Took less than an hour on two separate days. I cant even imagine what the shop will charge.
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caseyayers
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Re: DA40 Wheel Pant

Post by caseyayers »

Ended up costing $615 total to repair ($75 in parts + 5 hours of labor) and it turned out really marvelous. I'm going to keep them both off and in safe keeping for now, but I'm pleased with the repair work and didn't die of sticker shock for the repair.
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