Putting the fiberglass pants on the Decathlon, and trying to determine the best way to do it. I can picture in my head two ways, not sure if one is better or easier than the other.

They both involve epoxying a piece of 1/8" ply to the inside of the pant on the side that attaches to the landing gear. The first way I can think of is to drill a hole for the axle to go through, and secure the wheel collars from underneath once the pant is already on. The pant will be secured to the landing gear most likely by a couple of 4-40 bolts into blind nuts in the 1/8" ply.

The second idea came about when putting the new Funtana together. Their wheelpants include a U-shaped cutout on the inside of the pant. This way the wheel is secured to the axle first, then the pant slides down over the top of the assembly and is attached to the gear the same as the first method (4-40 bolts into blind nuts).

Any ideas or other suggestions? I should have been spending some more time over the last few weeks looking at other setups at the field.

The BEST way by far to do it is with the sig wheel pant mounts!!!!!! I had Justin and Lt get some for hobbytown. They are by far the easiet, strongest and most forgiving of the mounting methods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon

I thought I had heard about those, but I was picturing something different than I found just now when looking on Sig's site:



For some reason I was thinking Sig's mounts were a plastic piece with a wheel collar insert that secures to the axle and then you screw through the pant into the plastic.

Anyway, that part there looks like it would work nicely. I take it I then cut out the U-shape from the fiberglass pant to match the mount and it works like that? Does that mount get glued into the inside of the wheel pant?

The only thing I could see being difficult is that the axles have a 1/2" hex flange used for tightenging the axle to the gear, but I could always just space the wheel pant that distance (about 1/16") away from the main gear itself. I'll be going by the shop today around lunchtime and will be looking for those. Hopefully they have them in stock for 5/32" axles.

Thanks Jon! :thumbup:

You're right about the pic.......BUT that is totally wrong!!! Their site is screwed up!!! It is the plastic mount with a wheel collar inserted in the middle. All that you have to do is line up the mount on the wheel pant, drill the 2 small holes the the plastic for the mount then drill the axle hole....... all done!!!! If the pant gets snagged on some grass or something it will rotate on the axle instead of shattering the wheel pant!!! Very nice!!!

Well that sounds easy enough...do you even put a piece of wood between the mount and the pants, maybe to provide some shock absorbtion or do you just mount the plastic straight to the fiberglass?

Thanks for the help Jon.

Mount it straight... no wood necessary :D

Alright, I got 'em, we'll see how they work. Your rep is on the line here Jon! :lol:

;) You'll be sorry if you DON'T use them B)

I like those type mounts also.

Well they did go on incredibly easy yesterday, and they appear they're going to work very well. Thanks guys!