Here you can see the crack formed right up the center of the bracket where it had flexed due to the airflow.
The bottom attach point was completely broken off. In a way, this is my own fault...I should have gotten the wheel pants on there sooner, or not left the brackets flopping out in the slipstream like that. My rationale for flying with the brackets installed was that I had installed the brackets from the start, and it would be a pain to jack the plane up, remove the wheels, remove the brackets, etc., just to replace them a few hours later. Well, "a few hours" turned into well over 30 hours. I still haven't found the time or opportunity to focus on installing the leg and gear fairings.
Jacking the plane up and removing them was actually no big thing. I used the RV jack stand that I bought from Avery a while back. First I removed the modified axle nut end cap.
After removing the axle nut cotter pin I inserted the jack stand shaft into the hollow axle.
I used my Tundra's bottle jack to jack the wheel up off the ground. It looks precarious in this photo due to the angle at which the jack stand rests on the jack, but trust me...it's stable.
Like any good mechanic should, I deflated the tire before removing the axle nut. I've heard too many horror stories about people losing chunks of skull when wheel halves separate accidentally under pressure. I actually know a mechanic personally to whom that happened. So I always deflate tires completely before that axle nut comes off. The quickest way is just to remove the valve stem.
The inner brake pad has to come off...
...and then the wheel can just slide off the axle and onto the jack stand shaft.
Here you can see the other side of the crack, as if it wasn't already clear enough.
With the wheel on the jack stand shaft, you can lower the axle onto wood blocks or whatever you've got lying around.
Poor plane. Nah, actually this is a blessing in disguise. The .063" brackets that Van's gives you with the finish kit are only marginally superior to cheese. I'll most likely try to come up with something more durable and reinforced.
I ended up just removing the brackets and then replacing everything today. I still want to fly for a while before I get the wheel pants on. Leg fairings are coming soon, however.
In any case, my advice to you builders is to keep these brackets off the plane until you're definitely ready to install the wheel pants. While the right side bracket was apparently fine, the left side was trashed. I'm throwing away both brackets just to be safe. Do yourselves a favor and leave these "floppers" off until you need 'em.