wing removal and roller replacement

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perossichi
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Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:05 am
First Name: Peter
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N925RH
Airports: KVNY
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wing removal and roller replacement

Post by perossichi »

Folks-

There are three sets of guide rollers in each wing: 2 in the root rib (one for flap pushrod and one for aileron) and one somewhere between the flap control rib and the aileron control rib.

Inspection at my annual found (for the first time since I've owned the plane) that all three rollers where cracked in both guide roller assemblies at the root rib (and in the tail as well). After consulting with my A*P/IA, we decided to remove the wing so that we could replace the entire assembly, not just individual rollers.

We removed the wings (actually not that hard -- there wing bolts came out relatively easily and most of the rest was de-fueling the plane and disconnecting tons of stuff). Wing removal is really a three person job.

With the wings off and supported on saw horses, it was relatively easy to drill out the rivets and replace the assemblies. Each assembly cost something like $150. It took us all day to remove both wings, replace the roller assemblies and re-install wings.Therefore, this repair was about 2 AMUs which is a lot!!

I am really impressed at the strength of the spars and also how well designed the whole wing bolt and bulkheads are. I'm told is it is somewhat of a nightmare to take off Cessna high wings and Piper low wings -- many bolts and many people. The bolts are threaded on nuts which corrode. In the Diamond set-up, the "bolts" are very strong steel tubes that are held in place by a locking tube. Very smart and very, very strong. No nuts at all. Also, the Diamond Mx man talks about a "bolt extraction" tool. The Bolts have a threaded 13 (or 15?) mm hole in the top and it was easy to thread a bolt in the hole and create a "slide hammer" to knock out the bolts.

Right Wing removed
right_wing.jpg
Back of root rib showing the flap push rod (top) and aileron push rod. The rivets are holding the guide roller assemblies on the other side of the rib.
back of root rib.jpg
Main Wing Bolt (cleaned before lubrication)
Main_Wing_bolt.jpg
Removed Guide Roller Assemblies (note that all rollers are cracked and slit clean thru)
cracked_rollers.jpg
Sold 2002. Powerflo, Hartzell composite two blade, 530W/430, 345 transponder.
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