(Why You Need to Change Them
& Give Your Gear the Respect it Deserves)
Don't be a Gear Collapse
(LGRM*) Statistic!
*Landing Gear Related Mishap
This Rod End (and several others) is all that is between you and the above kind
of event!
The rod end pictured above is the factory
installed, 4,000hrs TT HML-6 Heim unit from the back end of the nose gear rod at
the gearbox on my B55. It looks perfectly OK doesn't it? But hey, who knows what the metal
fatigue cycling has done over 43 years. This CSOB does not want to find out!
Don't wait to have a Rod End failure to learn
that the insurance companies have been totaling older Beechcraft that have
suffered a landing gear rod end failure or gear up landing.
The above video looks to me to be possibly a Colemill Foxstar Baron with the nice winglets. Unfortunately, it's possible that
this plane's rod ends (in particular the nose rod ends) were left in there too
long, notice the floppy nose wheel on landing rollout.
Here is a Travel Air with a gear issue
executing a gear partially extended landing:
It Used to be a Nice B58....Until Something
in the Nose Gear Failed!
Many gear collapses are a result of rod end
failure (unfortunately, some are the result of confused pilots grabbing the gear
handle instead of the flap handle DUH! Fuh-gedd-aboud touching anything until
you're clear of the active AND STOPPED.
Right behind your engine, the landing gear is
the next system, where a failure will cause major damage to your plane and/or
potential injury to you and/or your passengers.
It has been reported that the HMX5FG has been
superseded by ADNE5-323 for the two front rod ends and the aft rod end is
ADNEL6-317.
True CSOBs hate to have expensive things break
or fail.
So spend a little dough to avoid a potentially giant headache and the loss
of your plane. Visit your mechanic and have your rod ends changed at (pick a
number you like: 2,000hrs TIS, 3,000hrs TIS, 4,000hrs TIS).
Click
HERE
to see what happens to a 7,000 TT Rod End and see how the tensioning spring is nearly
"Stacked"! This owner was incredibly lucky in that when the middle
nose gear rod end
broke the nose gear came down but had ZERO downlock tension.
Here is a quote from A-33 Bonanza
owner of the above failed rod end, Stan "The Man" says:
"You must replace these rod ends at no more than 3,000 hours,
you are gambling on a failure that may result in a landing with the nose gear
not extended! I was very fortunate, the aft nose gear retraction rod pushed the
front nose gear retraction rod to lower the gear with the failed rod end. I felt
a thump when I retracted the gear and didn't know what the problem was, so I
extended the gear for the next landing, at home base, at under 100 knots and did
a gentle, smooth landing and slow taxi to the hangar on smooth pavement. When we
retracted the gear the next day on jacks, the nose gear did not retract. We were
very lucky not to have landed the Deb with the nose gear not extended or in
having it fail on the ground. Please do not neglect the nose gear retract rod
ends, there are three of them."
Above is a non-Heim rod end side load failure in the nose
gear rod center linkage.
Low cost sources of genuine Heim
Rod Ends can be general bearing supply distributors nationwide. For example, a
HM-6 rod end at a national bearing supply distributor might be around $11.
FAA-PMA replacement rod end bearing for Beechcraft p/n's:
131553-4M, HM4, HM4M, HM4U. Eligibility includes Bonanzas and
Barons.
SSV35-231553L4M Rod End
List Price: $31.50
FAA-PMA replacement rod bearing for Beechcraft p/n's:
131553L4M, HML4, & HML4M. Common installations on Bonanzas &
Barons
SSV35-231765-3M Rod End
List Price: $29.80
FAA-PMA replacement rod end bearing for Beechcraft p/n's:
131765-3M, MD46-15, & MD46-15M. Common installation on
Bonanzas & Barons.
SSV35-231765-1F Rod End
List Price: $17.58
FAA-PMA replacement for Beech p/n's: 131765-1F, F34-14,
F34-14M, REB3N. Eligibility includes Bonanzas & Barons.
While you are changing the rod
ends get yourself the tensioning springs as well! There is one on the nose gear
rod (pictured above) P/N 35-825188 and one on each main gear push-pull tube that
are P/N 45-815091 for the B55.
RAPID has
these springs and new tensioning washers. My main gear springs were P/N
45-815091 and the washers are P/N 100951S063XP. Check YOUR parts catalog
to be sure you order the proper P/N for your model and serial number!
Here's a Beech Lister's method for compressing the nose gear spring:
Other methods include a vice to squeeze the ends and careful removal of the
shear pin. Be sure to lube the shaft liberally with CorrosionX or ACF50 or some
such lube before reassembly.
Another suggested method from Bo
owner Bill:
I clamped a long piece of metal in the vice, clamped some C clamps
strategically to it to act as a stop for one end of the rod, and then used a
furniture clamp to squeeze the overall rod enough to remove the pin that holds
it together. Worked great, and didn't send parts bouncing around the shop when
it slipped out of the vice.
Bill also reports that Arrell
Aircraft sells a cleaned up re-tempered spring for less than half the Beech
Factory price. So if that spring price bugs you give Arrell a call at the info
on this PAGE.
ALSO: Don't forget to put new nut
and bolt hardware into your landing gear. For example part # 48 (Beechcraft P/N
available only from
RAPID or
Arrell Aircraft) in
the below parts catalog extract. Your parts catalog will list all the AN or MS
hardware for each rod end connection.
A great CSOB hardware source is
Haire
Aviation. See my page on Haire Aviation
HERE . Just call them
up and give them your list.
Here are the two versions of Nose
Gear Arms that are used at the landing gear transmission to actuate the nose
gear. Note the top "beefy" one is used on Barons and possibly later model
Bonanzas.
Picture Courtesy of Kevin O.
Per Kevin: Beech has gone through 3 generations of these
arms--the first couple of years the part number was 35-825172, it was made of
magnesium.
Beech had a AD , or maybe a SB to change it out to an aluminum
one ( part # 35-825172-2)--they used this part till the 80s--thats when they
switched over to the beefier one 35-825172-13
All Baron 58s used the 35-825172-13 until 1984. The Model 55 Barons got the
-13 with the 1974 model. Current p/n is 104-820050-3 for all replacements.
This PN: 35- 825174 (seen on eBay 2/2013) may have come after the mid-80's
and before the current 104-820050-3....not sure, but it looks quite "beefy"
Below is perhaps part of the reason that Beech went to a
beefier arm. All of the early Bonanzas and T34s are reported to have had the thinner arm depicted
below.
Below is the nose gear retract arm and bolt. Notice the bolt has the slotted
head facing the pavement. The castellated nut is torqued using some thin washers
to get the proper hole placement for the cotter pin. Yeah, it's a PITA to
do.....
Below is the uplock section of the landing gear to help you identify the parts.
Be sure to check for good integrity and lack of corrosion of both the BIG spring
and the SMALL spring. These springs perform key roles in the operation of the
uplock system.
Here is an image of later model
Baron 55/58 landing gear that includes a DOWN LOCK as well. It is believed Beech
added this feature to guard against side loads of their heavier birds and this
can also be found on the Duke gear as well.
While you are in the Main Landing
Gear area spiffing everything up like new, check out the main landing gear
sleeves info HERE
to put the finishing touches on your rod end and landing gear refurbishment.
Also, the nose gear retract rod
boot cover is PN: 35-825076-13 @ $47.74 on 02/02/2009. A bit steep IMHO for a
little fabric cover that fits over this area:
Here is the bolt that came out of
one savvy inspectors landing gear refurb mission. I believe this is the bolt
that holds the two nose gear rods together at the idler arm pictured above. Part
total time ~5,300 hrs.
Folks, this page just begs you to
have a thorough refurb/inspection/rework of your landing gear system at some
time! Take your pick, 2,000 hours, 4,000 hours? Much more and it seems like you
are asking for a problem, but that's just my humble opinion.
Here is another JUST IN THE NICK
OF TIME save by Paul S. on his N35 Bonanza. The below pic is of the shear
pin in
the nose gear rod assembly (see pic above - it is to the left of the spring) of his N35. Just goes to show you that it's a good
idea to disassemble and look at these components that have been in service for
so many years:
Paul being the avid Beech Lister
that he is, has been listening to all the posts on the Beech
List about high time landing gear
parts and in his annual on his 5,000 hr TT airframe got his rod end project
going with his IA. The picture above is of the pin that maintains the two pieces
of nose gear pushrod together against the tension of the spring. This would be a
really good time to inspect the braze and inner rod section.
Per Paul, in the down position
this pin floats in the slot of rod #50 in the below picture and your spring
(part #51 in the below diagram) provides the downlock tension pressure. In the
up position, this pin takes the brunt of your UPLOCK TENSION. It would stand to
reason that is this pin is mangled (or worst case, shears, then the uplock
tension adjustment was probably massive), just a hypothesis mind you.
Here is what this problem might
look like in the air
:
The latest info from Beechcraft
parts guru Kevin O. is that this shear pin used to be Beech PN: 45-824014 BUT it's no
longer available. Kevin reports later model parts books call out AN393-25
or a MS20392-2C25, available at Aircraft Spruce for about $0.30. Kevin suggests
changing this pin about every 1,000 hours and lube and inspect the inner shaft.
Click
HERE for a Clevis Pin
Cross Reference Sheet from Aviall
On early model Bonanzas rod #50
had a short nose, so when your pin sheared, you had a very bad day. Beech
engineering got wise to this flaw and made later model Bonanza/Baron shafts
longer, so when the pin sheared, your nose gear stayed down AND the shafts
stayed together, so on your recycle of the gear you were down and locked again.
Great save by Paul in finding his
nearly sheared pin!
The pin is #52 in the below
Diagram:
Here is another near-miss shear
pin find by A36 owner and Beech Talker Mike S.
Check out this vintage Beechcraft
Service Bulletin HERE
issued in February 1957 when they changed to a longer plunger rod and a shear
pin that replaced a shorter plunger rod and a clevis pin.
The newly specified shear pin at
that time was PN: 45-824014
The newly specified longer
plunger at that time was PN: 35-825094-4
Here is another near miss catch
by Beech Lister Jim H. on his 1955 F-35 Bonanza. During the process of changing
out his nose gear rod ends, he found the gear door actuator pin almost severed
in half!
Here is Jim's pic of the before
and after a welding repair. Jim reports 5,400TT hrs on his Bonanza. A near miss
of his nose gear door actuation averted!
Nice save Jim!
This is the slotted tab that the pin goes into to actuate the
nose gear doors.
OK, so you need to see more
"shock & awe" pics of what's lurking in that airframe-saving system we call the
landing gear before you make the commitment to check yours out?
Well here you go, courtesy of
BeechTalker Ron H. His BeechTalk thread is
HERE. His synapses and pics of his nose gear retract rod shaft are below:
In taking the recommendations of the ABS and others about
replacing the nose gear rod-end bearings, I took these to heart and did mine
during the annual inspection on my bird which is just wrapping up. All of the
nose gear rod-end bearings, bushings, and hardware have now been replaced.
We found an anomaly in the rod assembly, fwd nose gear retract link as shown in
the attached pictures. What caused it, I have no idea, but can only surmise that
the previous owner who was learning to fly in the plane must have had a nose
wheel first hard landing. Again, I just don't know, and can only speculate as to
what might have caused the sleeve to split like this.
I also found one rod-end bearing that had a crack across the crown, and down one
side towards the bolt hole. I know that it would have eventually failed, but
when is the question.
Thanks to the ABS and the others preaching on the need to replace the rod-end
bearings, I found these two potential failure points before they did fail and
result in unpleasant results to our pride and joy as well as ourselves and/or
potentially others.
Here is what the damaged retract rod shaft looks
like with the spring on it. This is a good example of why these things should be
completely disassembled, inspected, lubed and put back together if all is well:
Note the damaged portion of the shaft that is
barely visible through the spring!
Paul S. adds the following comment: the inner shaft (forward section) extends far enough down the
tube so that if the pin shears, the nose wheel will hang in the wind, but the
rods will still interface enough to extend gear properly. This was changed with
s/n D-4547.
Great CSOB save Ron!
Here is Beech Service Bulletin
SB32-4125 that describes
an inspection of a 2012/2013 plunger assembly for poor brazing. It has some very
nice images of late model nose landing gear inspection details.
Here is another disaster waiting to happen to
older airframes. Check your drag link for any evidence of stress cracks or
casting anomalies:
Remember, a gear up or nose gear collapse will
likely total most anything but the latest of airframes. Between the prop strike
teardown/inspection and the sheet metal repair you're looking at quite an
expense. This was a bad day for this Bonanza owner!
Here is what happens when you don't check the
clearance of your doors before doing a full blast retraction test. Hey, it's on
jacks, so what I like to do is use the crank, turn it CLOCKWISE just enough turns to get the inner gear
doors to open up while you or your buddy checks the clearance to your jacks.
There should be very little resistance in turning the crank for the amount of
turns to open the inner gear doors. STOP when the inner gear doors open up or
the cranking resistance begins to get noticeably harder (this indicates you are
beginning to lift the main gear and you do not want to do this with the little
worm gear and crank).
Picture Courtesy of Kevin O.
Oh yeah, and the same thing can happen if you have
your inner gear doors disconnected and the rod hanging in the breeze. When you
go full blast with the gear motor the rod is going to go in and out of the side
of the plane - at full speed! Yup, you guessed it, it can get hung up in there and things are
going to get bent. Consider that 24V gear will cycle in about 4 seconds and 12V
gear in about 8 seconds. What I like to do is put a piece of tubing or rubber hose
over the rod end and make sure that it extends past the fuselage, and is really
secure.
Here is some more inner gear door rod abuse
contributed by Bonanza owner & IA, Bob B.:
"These inner main gear door
rods have similar wear from improper installation. The spacer on the inboard end
was missing. The nut was tublocked on the bolt and the rod end could slide fore
and aft. They were rubbing on the aft side of the fuselage opening. Logbook
entry for complete rigging per service manual after bushing and motor
replacement. The uplock cables were catching on the gear and there was no
turning the emergency gear handle after retraction or lowering of the gear." -
Bob B.
This is the nose gear
door rod and actuator cam/pickup fork. That flat end on the left side of the cam must be
firmly planted on the "L" shaped piece that is on the left side (of
this picture view, right side of the aircraft fuselage) of the
inner wall when the gear is down and locked. If your gear door rods are ever
removed it is easy to reassemble them to the gear doors in such a way that the
cam/pickup fork is slightly turned counter clockwise and the flat part of the cam will not be flush with the "L"
piece on the wall of the well. You will then have nose gear doors that do not close properly. Don't ask
me how I know!
Below is a picture of the Nose
Gear Door rod end (not my airplane) showing the ball stud that attaches to the
door. Over the years, slop can be created from the wear of these parts - you
do lube/grease them each year right? That will help, but sadly, many folks
overlook these little details.
Below is a picture of the rod end
receptacle and the little parts that are inside of it (part # 22 in the above
parts diagram).
B40-1 ball socket rod end, superseded by, R5453-1 and
superseded by, SP1106
Kevin advises the following with
regard to the nose gear door rod ends and hinges:
A-- you can take those rod ends apart--clean and lube them
--then put them back together and take out the slop with the end adjuster.
B-- I make a kit to put in oversize bushings in the hinge
point of the hinge where it wears--keeps you from having to buy new hinges
C-- if you DO need hinges ( I have those also)--DO NOT just
lay the old ones over the new ones and drill the holes the same---you will not
get a good fit doing it that way
Email Kevin
HERE
for parts info on his Beechcraft parts
Here are pics of Beechcraft Maven,
Kevin O's. "owner produced parts" for the nose gear door actuation:
Per Kevin:
"The first picture shows
owner produced new cross shaft for my deb--also the end plugs and new
gussets--also pictured is a factory made pin that attaches to the lift legs.
Kevin O.
Thesecond
picture shows difference in gussets---the original is made out of aluminum--the
steel shaft rotates on it and it gets play--screws up the rigging on the gear
doors and the cowl flaps---the one I made has a bronze bushing installed---it
has over twice the surface area for the shaft to ride on---we had to make the
plug that goes in the end of the cross shaft (only found on debs without cowl
flaps and barons) 1/8 " longer to give room for the added thickness of the
bushing.
THIS is the way
the factory should have made them !"
Bad Landing Gear
Transmission Sector Gear
The above picture
is courtesy of Beech Lister and B55 owner Derek D:
Above is a fuzzy picture of one end of a bad gear with an even
fuzzier view of the red tag attached to it. It was deemed unserviceable because
of the tooth wear seen in the photo, particularly on teeth 2 through 6 (starting
end-right and counting left). I was told this probably occurred over time due to
a improperly adjusted dynamic relay.
These worn teeth, and similarly worn teeth on the other travel
end of the gear, were the only two spots highlighted in red marker as "bad". I
don't know if this was all that was wrong or if they stopped inspecting once
they found something egregious. I am also unable to tell if the wear in the rest
of the teeth going left is acceptable or not.
Thanks for the contribution Derek!
Here is a picture of the Beech
sector gear, courtesy of Travel Air owner Jeff W:
Jeff's comments:
If you see the shiny marks in the middle of the teeth, the ones that you can
see in the middle are normal, but at the end, maybe last 8-10 teeth on either
end, those marks deepen into a gouge that you can lay a razor blade across and
get a feeler gage under. I forget the limit of that depth, at the time i was
talking to Jeff at Aircraft Systems in Rockford, he coached me through sorting
the gears so that I could only send him ones that were likely candidates. My
gearbox was overrunning the stops, and judging by the junkyard gearboxes I was
getting, so were lots of others.
It is widely believed that
Boston Gear has
been the supplier of this part, but who really knows?
HERE is
a primer on gear design/theory.
Landing Gear Transmission
Secrets Revealed
Here are pictures of the
landing gear transmission box that lurks beneath your seats!
The red arrow points to the internal "stop" that will "prang"
your sector gear if your dynamic brake is fouled up or mis-adjusted.
This shows the adjusting screw for the UP limit switch.
The switch on the left is the UP limit switch and the
switches on the right are in the DOWN system.
The green arrow points to the "Magic Hand" system solenoid (if your plane is so
equipped). The red arrow points to the down lock microswitch "finger".
Importance of Good
Dynamic Relay Ground
Here is a success story told by
Texas A36 Bonanza owner, John W., who started his journey replacing an uplock
cable (not exactly a fun job in itself), which morphed into a full blown gear
rigging and chase of proper hand crank free play:
To review, I had trouble rigging my landing gear.
There are two screws that can be extended/retracted so as to hit up/down limit
switches earlier or later in the cycle. Those screws were all the way IN (to hit
the limit switch tabs as early as possible) yet I was not getting the book value
turn on the hand crank after the motor stopped. And all gear tensions/clearances
were just at the ragged edge of book value. I was out of further adjustment.
Additionally, in trying to address a possible bad ground I would remove the
relay ground wire, clean it, reinstall and things would change .. sometimes
better/sometimes not. This consistent changing was taking up time and driving me
nuts. I sent both the overhauled motor and the original relay to the overhauler
for a bench check. They were returned with an A-OK but a comment that the ground
stud on the relay was loose so it was tightened.
Upon return of these items I noted the relay ground
stud not only loose but it could wobble from side to side (see attached photo).
I ended up buying a new relay. Once installed this helped in that it gave me a
very small amount of latitude in adjustments but things still weren't right. I
spoke with Bob Ripley on several occasions and, every time, he said "you've got
a bad ground". I had a new motor and new relay so what could it be? I even
replaced the limit/micro switches. I removed the original relay-to-airframe
ground wire for a check. It had low resistance so that wasn't it. I then decided
to make a new ground wire and attach it to the airframe somewhere else (see
attached photo). BINGO. The difference was unbelievable. The adjustment screws
are now backed waaaay out. The motor stops in exactly the same spot every time.
Exact spot. Once the motor could be adjusted to stop anywhere .. and do so on a
dime, I was able to bring the main gear up to within .062 skin clearance (run
the motor a tad longer than before) which allows proper adjustment of the uplock
cable tension, the gear leg clearance of the inboard door, etc. Essentially I
had to adjust a lot of things because I was now able to get tighter tolerances
(where the book called them to be).
Early on, when I would come close to getting things
in order, they would then change for no apparent reason. I think the wobbly
ground stud on the relay would relax or move (remember I removed it to clean the
terminal several times) and the ground would go bad. That explains why things
kept changing and I could never seem to figure out why.
And a P.S. .. the relay has been modified in recent
years to a new part number. The only change I can see is a better ground stud.
The dynamic relay ground circuit
is key to consistently stopping the motor in the same place during each cycle.
My personal practice each year has been to generously squirt the relay terminals
and it's ground lug with CorrosionX to give the connections a good clean
corrosion free contact.
Pretty simple mechanism huh? You can see
how the sector gear is the real business end of this thing.
Here is some transmission gear
lube info posted by A&P & Beech Owner Bob B. of Texas:
From Beechcraft Communique #102
June, 2003
"The motor gear box should be packed with grease conforming to
Mil-G-81322 = Mobilgrease 28 (Shell Grease 22) The landing gear actuator itself
should be filled with approximately 1/2 pint of 75 weight gear oil conforming to
Mil-PRF-2105 (supercedes Mil-L-2105)."
Initially, Mobil Compound GG was specified to meet this
requirement. *This* lubricant is no longer available and was replaced by a
synthetic lubricant. In addition to Mobil 636 another Mobil product
has also been approved by the factory for servicing landing gear actuators.
Mobil SHC ..........available through our spares system under our part number of
101-380016- 1 (5 gal)"
Note the GG was the lead product! Only Performance Aero seems
to have a smaller than 5 gal quantity that i know of. However there may be
another newer Communique. Any lube meeting the Mil Spec is adequate in my
opinion.
Another pirep states:
Beech specifies Mobil Delvac 75W-90 gear oil, "which meets
the same MIL-PRF-2105 specification as Mobilube SHC."
PLEASE NOTE: As with all things on CSOBeech,
be sure that YOU independently confirm all information with your A&P/IA before
relying on this posted information. Remember, you, the owner/operator are
responsible for the airworthiness of your aircraft.
Here is a gear box that took a
pounding. A hypothesis is that after the gear up landing, the operator placed
the switch in the down position. Like that was going to lift the plane off the
ground and allow the plane to be rolled off the runway
.
Wonder what shape that sector
gear is in?
Here is what NOT
to do when placing your repaired or overhauled landing gear motor back in
service - Don't pack it with so much grease that you get grease all inside the
armature. Pics and below narrative courtesy of Kevin O:
A guy called me a couple of weeks ago bitching about his second gear motor
going bad in 3 years--asked me to look at it--said OK when I received it and
opened it up--the first picture is what I found. In the shop manual it states to
use one ounce of grease in the area between the motor and the landing gear
trans--placed below the mid point.
Whoever was installing the motor was packing it full--over a few months the
grease would leak over into the motor--coating the brushes and armature and
windings--causing the loss of dynamic brake and making the gear retraction times
slow.
Picture below is of a gear motor with 2000 hours on it--the black stuff is
just carbon dust from the gear brushes (normal) To save you guys time and money
( and maybe the loss of plane and injury )--use the correct amount and type of
grease
Read the spec for
lubricating the gear motor before install
HERE
Comments from
Kevin O. regarding install of the gear motor
The space between the motor and
the trans should be LESS than half full ( more like 1/3--any more and it will
leak into the motor as seen above. Also make sure that there is a washer on the
reduction gear that inserts into the motor ( they tend to get lost and then the
gear starts eating into the housing of the motor ALSO---have the plane on
jacks---retract the gear 1/2 way up--remove old motor and replace with the new
motor---then with the gear switch in the up position---hit the master switch for
just a second--make sure the motor is connected in the correct way ( its
retracting)--then cycle the gear both up and down and make sure you have the
correct 1/8th to a 1/2 turn on the trans to get it to hit the stops.
Do NOT cycle the gear a bunch of
times without letting it sit for awhile and cool down--you do not want it to get
hot--can screw up the windings.
Here is a picture
of the Landing Gear Motor Drive Gear. That little gear drives the whole landing
gear system! Rumor has it this motor is a descendant of the motor that rotated
the gun turrets in WWII vintage bombers.
No longer a "rumor", this sure looks like the ancestor of
our flap motors on this B26 Martin gun turret!
Now what are the rest of you
Beechcraft owners with original landing gear components in your 3,000, 4,000,
5,000, and 6,000+ TT airframes waiting for!
Click
HERE
for More Landing
Gear Rod End Tips, Sources, Rod End Catalogs and Part Numbers
Below is a Bonanza 28V Landing
Gear Wiring Diagram. Check your specific SN catalogs for your particular
diagram. This is just shown for reference
See the ABS Landing Gear
Inspection Manual HERE . It
is a great reference for doing a thorough gear inspection and setting the
rigging to the proper specs.
YOU'VE
GOT TO READ
THIS Landing Gear Tip: Is your mechanic taking the slack out of your inner gear door
mechanism by tightening the turnbuckle rods? Maybe there is a reason for that
slack in the mechanism?
Ask your mechanic to examine the play/wear of this
Bushing/Rod
End and
Bolt
combo that attaches to the top transmission swing arm before tightening up the
linkage. Part total time estimated at 4,000 hours. The bolt was worn down
0.005" and the rod end would not even hold the bushing anymore.
Here is my gear door arm showing a slop
"signature" (yellow arrow area) on the transmission arm, found during my annual. This is going to be
fixed with new pieces.
This tip
and many other landing gear tips are compliments of a VERY EXPERIENCED Beech
Lister who found this slop and dug further when he was installing a freshly
overhauled gear motor in his Debonair.
*For more info on LGRMs (Landing Gear Related
Mishaps) visit:
Mastery Flight Training
created by Tom Turner, ABS' Executive Director
Landing Gear Rod Ends
& Gear Watch Outs
:
