Landing Gear Fairing

[Mushroom]

Hi Folks,
I’m looking for a little insight/ direction for my landing gear fairings. I’m restoring a Colt and when I got to these pieces I discovered there is a chunk of them missing. I’ve attached photos for clarification. The former owner had screwed on a separate piece for the missing area. I believe I can rivet on a piece and repair them. Especially since they are 100 dollars apiece from Univair. I do though want to here from someone who may have had experience with this situation already and maybe a little history on this part. Is this common because it sure looks like a weak spot in the design. Also the parts diagram shows a separate piece (item #10) part #11848-03 called a Channel-belly fairing stiffener. Which doesn’t come up on the Univair website. I believe it’s just a piece that gets screwed on over the split in this area. Again any insight on this is appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

Patrick MorellB7924D67-9904-44DC-BC84-EEB5F0B3EEDE.jpgAE228451-89A9-4678-830C-9BBFCE0335D6.jpeg77E1A005-5C2F-4D8B-A76D-7A4E75022CD0.jpeg

[Stephen]

I repaired mine several times with rivets and aluminum reinforcement. I do not use the #10 piece. Although it might help with reinforcement.

[Steve Pierce]

That soft 3003 aluminum is not very strong and those end up breaking off quite often. I have made doublers from 2024-T3 aluminum in the past.

[Mushroom]

Thanks for the replies I appreciate it.

[RRHall]

Those same pieces on my Colt are riveted with reinforcements over the original material which broke.

[Pacer42Z]

The fairings on my Pacer were all beat up and patched many times. I made new ones and modified them to have detachable pieces going around the gear legs. You don't have to make them all new, you might be able to modify your existing ones.

Juergen
Pacer N3342Z

[Mushroom]

The fairings on my Pacer were all beat up and patched many times. I made new ones and modified them to have detachable pieces going around the gear legs. You don't have to make them all new, you might be able to modify your existing ones.

Juergen
Pacer N3342Z

Juergen,
I like the idea of the detachable piece as opposed to putting the split in it. Thanks for the idea and sharing the photos.