Tight Gear Leg
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:39 amI'm guessing there may be somebody in the future that is going to run into the impossible to insert titanium gear leg like I did. It took some hours but here is how I solved it.
The gear leg measured 0.001" larger diameter then the socket on the mount after the paint was removed. It would not fit even if hammered. I used 1" dia. 80 grit flap wheel on my die grinder to work both the top and bottom sockets in the engine mount. Then smoothed with a 120 grit flap wheel. I had a 2" dia. flap wheel that I used to polish the titanium rod. After some hours sand/fit/sand/fit, I was able to get the leg to move in the lower socket, with lube of course. Light blows with the mallet I got it up to the top socket. Then I ran into another problem. Here is a picture of the leg off center and hitting the edge of the socket. It was not going any further.
With a file, I chamfered the top of the leg about 1/8" and smoothed with a flap wheel. I sanded the sockets some more until I could push and twist the leg into position in the mount by hand. When it hit the top socket, I used a mallet to get it into the socket and I could drive it the rest of the way with the mallet.
The other leg was not nearly so onerous. I did the same polishing/chamfering to it and was able to get it all the way in by hand.
Now on to alignment and drilling.
Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057
The gear leg measured 0.001" larger diameter then the socket on the mount after the paint was removed. It would not fit even if hammered. I used 1" dia. 80 grit flap wheel on my die grinder to work both the top and bottom sockets in the engine mount. Then smoothed with a 120 grit flap wheel. I had a 2" dia. flap wheel that I used to polish the titanium rod. After some hours sand/fit/sand/fit, I was able to get the leg to move in the lower socket, with lube of course. Light blows with the mallet I got it up to the top socket. Then I ran into another problem. Here is a picture of the leg off center and hitting the edge of the socket. It was not going any further.
With a file, I chamfered the top of the leg about 1/8" and smoothed with a flap wheel. I sanded the sockets some more until I could push and twist the leg into position in the mount by hand. When it hit the top socket, I used a mallet to get it into the socket and I could drive it the rest of the way with the mallet.
The other leg was not nearly so onerous. I did the same polishing/chamfering to it and was able to get it all the way in by hand.
Now on to alignment and drilling.
Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057