Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Took delivery of the T-18. A VFR airplane and it was necessary to remove the wings and truck it home due to the weather in the Southeast. The bolts were damaged on removal. I have some (probably not all) wing drawings and have located the holes through the main spar. But they only note to ream 0.374 - 0.375. They appear to be standard AN6 bolts. But I'd like to confirm that is what was called out on the drawing.

Thanks,
Marty Vanover
Tucson, AZ

Joint - main beam - fuselage drawing -599 calls out AN6-21A bolt along with AN960-616 washer and AN365-624 nut.

When I re-installed my wing I used an old bolt, cut the head off and a friend turned a tapper on one end, need 2, to use as a locating pin. Once the wing was in place with the locator pin the bolt was then inserted into the joint pushing the locator pin out. Didn't have to fiddle with getting every thing lined up and potentially damaging the threads on the bolt.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

Making a bullet as Bruce described is a great way to assemble parts. I have a lathe but have never used it to make a bullet. I just use a Dremel. A fiber cutoff wheel gets rid of the head in short order. The threads can be cut down to a taper with the Dremel or a bench grinder pretty quickly. The lathe will make a bullet prettier but not any more functional.

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

Couldn't find drawing 599 in the stack. Thanks Bruce and Jeff! Yeah, the bolt bullet is useful. I use them to install the engine mount bolts on my Beech.

Marty Vanover
Tucson, AZ

Put the bolts in the freezer for 24 hours.

That's a good tip I didn't think about!

Thanks!

Marty Vanover
Tucson, AZ