This is now the fastest section of the plans yet. I began the steps section tonight. They were actually supposed to be done quite a bit earlier in the plans, however, I delayed until I knew how the baggage floors were going to lay out as I am going to be installing access panels. The steps are bolted into the steel collar that is riveted to the outer baggage floor ribs. Van’s has you tighten this up, then rivet the floors in place above them. Well, if you ever need to tighten that bolt, or replace the step, you need to then cut into the floor, and Van’s even recommends that you cut a hole in the bottom skins of the plane to get a socket on the nut.
I wasn’t a big fan of that plan, so I am doing three things differently. First, I am going to put access panels in the baggage floors to let me get at the step bolts. This alone isn’t good enough. The plans have the bolt drop in vertically. When the baggage area is complete, there is a side panel directly above the bolt, and there isn’t enough room to slide the bolt clear of the hole without hitting the side panel. So the second modification that i’m making is to not use the pre-drilled holes, and drill my own holes at about 45 degree angles. This will give me enough clearance to remove the bolts.
The final change that I made is to install some slick bushings (made by TCW Tech) that slide inside the step tube. With the bushings in place, you can tighten the bolt without worrying about deforming the collar and step tubing.
Well, this post took almost as much time as it did for me to install the steps!
Tonight went like this:
– Locate the inner step support blocks with the step tube, and match drill and bolt them in place.
– Insert the step and measure out the proper position/angle.
– Drill a pilot hole thru the collar into the step tube, and remove the step.
– Insert the TCW Tech step bushings, lining them up with the pilot hole.
– Reinsert the step, and final drill the bolt hole all the way thru the collar, step, and bushing.
– Bolt the steps in place.
– Protect my future shins by wrapping the steps in towels and duct tape!
