Stabilator Tips

Santa Claus was kind enough to deliver some genuine Texas-made stabilator tips under our Christmas tree, so I just had to install them with the abundance of free time during the holidays.

First step was to temporarily fit the mounting bracket to the stabilator end rib and mark the bend line on each of the bracket's 10 tabs.  The objective was to have the tab lay 1/8 inch below the surface to allow for the thickness of a J-nut and the tip itself.  After the tabs were marked and bent, the unit was prepped and primed as shown below.

Next, the tips had to be marked for alignment with the pre-drilled holes in the mounting bracket tabs.  Careful measurement was required and a 1/16 inch hole was drilled at each of the tab locations into the tip.  The blue masking tape allowed for better visibility of the marks.

The end rib of the left stabilator is shown below, with the 5 holes to be used for fastening of the bracket.

I added another 8 rivets in strategic locations in an attempt to minimize any potential flexing of the bracket with the end rib.

Finally, the holes in the tip were drilled out to 1/8 inch and were fastened to the tabs of the mounting bracket with number 6 screws.  I managed to get a perfect match between the tip's edge and the end rib of the stabilator...on the underside!!!!  The top side, unfortunately, is not a great match and features a 1/16 to almost 1/8 inch gap along the length - just enough to be noticeable.  Sometimes the seemingly easiest tasks are those that turn out to be the most frustrating.  At least I get another shot at the right tip.  I'll try to get that one perfect.

Apparently I did not apply enough upward pressure on the tip (my wife's analysis) as I was measuring/marking the hole locations on the tip.  She's probably right.