I noticed last night that the bearing in my right outboard aileron hinge bracket was binding.  I called Van’s about it today, and they happily sent out a replacement at no charge.  I went ahead and drilled out the rivets holding this together, which was a real pain in the ass since those top rivets are AN470AD4-9’s.  Even once you drill the head off, they’re nearly impossible to drive out.  I ended up having to drill nearly all the way through them before I could drive the rest out.  Fortunately, I didn’t elongate any holes.

Oddly, after removing the bearing, it was no longer binding.  After resqueezing the two lower AN426AD4-7 rivets (the flush ones near the bearing), it bound up again.  Argh!  After drilling them out a second time, I determined what was going on.  Basically, the holes for those two rivets were not perfectly normal to the surface, so squeezing the rivets caused the two surfaces to shift slightly which applied a sideways load to the bearing (squeezing it out of round).  I ran a drill bit back through those holes and resqueezed the rivets and the bearing now moves as smooth as silk.

I also clecoed on the bottom skins on the left wing so that I could match drill the flap brace to the skin.  The flap hinge will also rivet along here, but I can’t do that until after I build the flaps.

While I was at it, I went ahead and clecoed on the aileron brace, and match drilled it to the skin.  I still have to match drill it to the rear spar, but I’ll wait until the bottom skins come back off so I have easy access.

I finished installing the conduit in the left wing.  I still need to put a little bit of sealant around the conduit where it crosses each rib to prevent vibration from cutting through the conduit.

I also got started on one of the bottom skins.  I removed the plastic along the rivet lines, deburred, and installed the nutplates along the perimeter of the access holes.

Andre will be stopping by later today to help me finish up the right wing, so I got started this morning by making the wing cradle that will hole the wings after they come off the jig.  This is basically built according to plans with the exception of the casters so that it can be easily moved.

I didn’t get any pictures during the process, but in about three hours, Andre and I knocked out the leading edge and top skins of the right wing.  I still need to squeeze the rivets along the rear spar and inboard rib, but other than that it is ready to come off the wing jig.

I went ahead and installed the autopilot roll servo and torqued the mounting bolts.  The wire still needs to be secured to keep from interfering with the aileron bellcrank, but that will have to wait until I get some adel clamps.

My 437-4 snap bushings showed up from Aircraft Spruce today, so I was able to install them and run the green pitot tubing through the right wing.

I also neglected to install any of the bolts holding the right fuel tank z-brackets to the spar, so I put a couple of bolts in each of the z-brackets and torqued them down.

I have my second tech counselor visit this Saturday afternoon, so I’m trying to knock out as many tasks as I can before then.

Since installing the wing conduit is so loud, I came out to the garage this morning after Jenn was at work at the kids were at school/daycare and installed it in the right wing.

After work, I squeezed the remaining rivets along the rear spar and inboard rib.  The top of the right wing is totally done now.

I also deburred the edges and clecoed on the right wing flap brace and aileron gap seal.  It’s late, so I’ll drill these tomorrow.