Mounting the nose strut

Now that the NG30 panels were mounted to the F22 bulkhead, it was time to mount the nose strut to the NG6 pivot casting.

I started out by clamping the nose strut to the NG6 casting...

And repositioning it until the strut was centered when in the retracted position (sorry, no picture of that... but you get the point) I needed to make sure the wheel would be centered in the wheel well when it retracted. Also, I had to make sure the wheel would not interfere with the instrument panel when retracted.

Once I was happy with the position and orientation, I tightened the 'C' clamps and drew a red line on the strut - this was so I could rest assured the casting did not move while match drilling the casting later.

Notice I left a small amount of overhang (the top of the strut slightly extended past the casting). This was to allow just enough clearance for the wheel not to hit the instrument panel when in the retracted position.

It was now time to drill - so I removed the strut with the NG6 casting still attached. Notice I taped the sides of the casting to prevent drill debris from getting inside the casting - I didn't want drill fragments ending up inside the roller bearings later!

I used my drill press to drill a pilot hole... notice the pilot hole just left of the C clamp...

And then opened it up to make the MS24694-S70 bolts fit through (same as AN509-10R28).

I then inserted a bolt through, and drilled a second hole with the C clamps still attached. After inserting the second bolt, I removed the C clamps, and proceeded to drill the remaining two holes.

I then made the NG5 plate - this is a simple 2.5" x 2.7" rectangle made out of 1/8" thick 2024 T-3 aluminum (on page 13-3 in the plans). I match drilled the holes - one at a time for a perfect fit.

Notice the countersinks on the NG5 plate...

With all holes drilled, it was time to test fit everything together. I added AN960-10 washers and MS21042-3 nuts to each bolt and tightened everything up.

Taaaadaaaaa! NG6 attached to the nose strut. I will later disassemble everything, alodine the NG5 plate and reinstall everything with flox.

But first, I wanted to test fit it back onto the fuselage...

A perfect fit!

Top view...

Bottom view

Iso view...

Top view (while holding the strut in a retracted position).

And I couldn't resist.. I temporarily clamped the nose wheel on the strut tip to see how she would look... Oh, how I can't wait to install the electric actuator and have this thing extend and retract on its own!

I then uninstalled everything in order to alodine the aluminum parts (NG5 and NG8 disks)...

Here is one of the NG8 disks getting its alumi prep bath...

Drying off after a water rinse...

Take an alodine bath...

All parts alodined...

Mixed up some wet flox and ready to permanently install the NG8 disks...

Now for the NG5...

I inserted the AN509-10R28 bolts, flipped the nose strut over... and poured wet flox...

 I then installed NG6 with AN960-10 washers and MS21042-3 nuts... tightened the whole thing and let it cure.

Before reinstalled the strut, I thought it would be worthwhile to clean the bearings. I used WD40 to remove any dust particles, used paper towels to remove as much of the WD40 as possible... and then packed the bearings the same way I did with the wheel bearings using Aeroshell 22.

I then reinstalled the strut to the NG30 panels. Cleaning out the bearings was a good idea - the strut pivots so smooooooooth.