Service Bulletin 14-12-06 Finally Completed

The weather cooperated nicely Friday … the early morning rains gave way to what I believe may have been the first 70 degree day of the year. Taking advantage of the late afternoon warmth and favorable breezes, a small batch of Akzo primer was mixed up and sprayed onto the new replacement pieces for the bearing bracket brace using the air brush. The wet parts were placed into the heated paint drying box and allowed to dry all day Saturday.

Today the freshly primed F-1206F-1 bearing bracket and F-1206J-L&R angles were secured together with Clecos per the plans and riveted together. A small change was made to the Van’s supplied AN470AD4-4 rivets. Those rivets looked a little short to me ... a quick measurement using a rivet gauge verified my suspicion so a slightly longer AN470AD4-4.5 rivet was used to secure the pieces together.

The rivet gauge shows that the increased length of the AN470AD4-4.5 rivet is the perfect length for this location.

Riveting the F-1206F-1 bearing bracket brace onto the F-1206J angles using AN470AD4-4.5 rivets in place of AN470AD4-4 rivets.

Completed new bearing bracket brace assembly ready to install in the fuselage.

Once the bearing bracket brace assembly was riveted together, it was time to install it in the fuselage. Wow! This is a tight fit. The ribs to the left and right require flexing a little to allow the bearing brace assembly to slide into position. Another testament to Van’s quality control … once in position, the new assembly fit perfectly once all the holes were properly aligned. Riveting the assembly was uneventful and only took a small amount of time.

Riveting the bearing bracket in position using the supplied AD4-6 rivets.

Completed installation of the new improved bearing brace assembly which completes service bulletin 14-12-06.