• Become a Subscribing Member today!

    J3-Cub.com is the largest community of J3-Cub pilots, owners and enthusiasts. With over 1000 active members, we have fostered a vibrant community and extensive knowledge base.

    Access to the J3-Cub.com community is by subscription only. Membership is only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this community and extensive unmatched library of knowledge.

    Why become a Subscribing Member?

    • J3-Cub.com hosts a library of over 13 years of technical discussions, J3 data, tutorials, plane builds, guides, technical manuals and more.
    • J3-Cub.com also hosts an extensive library of J3-Cub photos.
    • You will also receive two J3-Cub decals!

    Become a Subscribing Member and access J3-Cub.com in full!

    Subscribe Now

Engine mount thoughts

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

OldTails7

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2021
Messages
131
Reaction score
35
I noticed that the engine mount bolts were worn on the section that is inside the tube on the engine mount. That got me thinking about the design.

The bolt is a loose fit to that tube. If you torque the AN7 to 5 ft-lb then the tension on the AN7 is approximately 1,050 lbs. With a friction coefficient of 0.2 then it would require a side force of 210 lbs to make the washer slide. Actually a bit higher because of static friction. 210 isn't much but probably sufficient.

However the rubber bushings seem to deform rather soon and that could greatly reduce the AN7 bolt tension making it easy for the washer to slide so that the bolts starts rattling abound in the mount. That would explain the wear I see.

The coefficient of 0.2 is for dry steel against dry steel but this is a fiber washer against painted steel. It could be higher or lower.

Then there's the SB21 1946 service bulletin where engine mount bolts were failing with the A50 was installed.

I'm replacing the bolts, they're dirt cheap but I don't like the idea that they can rattle around like this. The poor rubber composition seems to be a problem too.

Am I off base?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top