airplanesfly

I am trying to replace the leather washers and I cannot get them on without overstretching and breaking them. I soaked the washers in Hyd fluid for 2 days before attempting to stretch them. Any hints, tips, suggestions? Is there an oring replacement for the leather washer? I Was looking around and found the Parker parbak oring and a PFTE oring that could potentially be a sub for the leather washer. Both are listed in the Parker oring handbook, as well as the leather one. Has anyone used any of these orings?

turns out the parts plane, where the lower cage tube was going to come from, was a 1966 M20C and the part could not be used for my 1964 m20C. apparently, on the post-1964 models, mooney started putting more bars on their roll cages. so the part had to come direct from mooney after all. additionally, the magneto shaft just needed tightening - looseness fixed. here are some pictures of the corrosion damage on the tube and its location. the first one is from the outside of the plane on the pilot side. the skin is off so the roll cage is visible. i drew an arrow on the picture to indicate where the hole is located. the second is looking up from the belly - this is the only way to see the hole itself.

I called the MSC this morning and asked them to work toward being finished with the repair by the week of Aug 8. The panels have already been removed. I also asked for a cost estimate by COB tomorrow. I am fearful of what the number will be and if payment in full is necessary (which I did not ask because I was so focused on getting my plane back). I was also told that because my plane went from "annual inspection" to "project", that it went into the priority line behind 2 other major repair project the shop had already. they said the other projects are getting caught up so more manpower can be put to my plane. to answer a few questions: the holes in the tube are definitely corrosion. you can take a screwdriver and poke at the hole and the tube just falls away. and they are on the pilot side. the co-pilot side does not indicate the same level of corrosion and the MSC said they did not need to replace this tube but could remove any corrosion that was present. SB-208 had been addressed at least 6 years ago from what I could find in the logs. I found a list of the SBs and the date of inspection from 6 years ago, but not from recent mx. The fiberglass insulation was replaced but I do not think continued inspection of the tubes and removal of previous corrosion was completed. The on-field mechanic that has done the annuals for the past 5 years mentioned the hole in the tube to me when he was replacing pilot side seat tracks and found water damage on the floor. He indicated it was a pin sized hole that we could wait to deal with at a later date. well, now is that later date. I have only owned the airplane for 1 year, so I am still learning all the mooney specific items that need inspection and mx. hence why I started posting to this forum! to learn more!! Thanks everyone for your input

I decided to take my 1964 m20c to a mooney repair center this year for the annual. The mx for the past 5 years has been completed by the local airport mechanic, but they do not have much mooney experience. The plane has been at the service center since March of this year( and I have no estimate of when I will get it back). A few of the bigger problems found during the annual inspection were: 1. Crankshaft gear bolt lock tab in engine oil screen (and no, I did not have a prop strike that I am aware of from looking through the logs) 2. Lower tube on roll cage assy on pilot side has pen sized hole - and turns out the entire tube is corroded thru 3. Left mag shaft is loose The shop has replaced the lock tab, but is stalled on the tube repair and the mag. I call the shop every 2 weeks to check on my plane, and when the corrosion problem was found, they had to figure out if they needed to replace the entire tube or find a part plane and weld a new section of tube on. The shop has decided they can do the latter method by pulling off skin panels to access for welding. The shop also got "busy" and stuck my airplane outside for a month to figure out this solution. The shop is a 4hour drive away and I have driven there to check on my plane and show that I am an involved owner that wants to understand the aircraft mx. So my question for the forum is how long does this kind of repair usually take? Have you had these repairs done on your plane? How do repair shops prioritize the work? I feel like whenever I call now, even though the shop has a way forward for the repair, there has been no progress made on the repair. I am getting extremely frustrated that the shop cannot even give me an estimated date for completion. I have also asked for an estimated price for the repair(s) and they have not provided it. I am struggling with making demands of the shop and being understanding about the workload of the shop. But why isn't my plane higher priority!!!! How do you all handle extensive repairs with mechanics and ensuring timely completion? Do I need to give them a deadline and be more demanding? I missed many beautiful flying days and I want my plane back!!!! Thanks for reading and providing me any recommendations and experiences you may have had.

update!!! i finally got my mooney to a mooney service center (air mods in new jersey and they were awesome). they found that the felt seals were squashed, the bearings worn, as well as the races, and there was a missing spacer... the one under the nut. tada!!! nose wheel all fixed! they also had to tighten the NLG truss pivot bolt and there was also no pre-load on the gear, so we fixed that. thanks to all for the advice/help on this problem!

i finally have an update... i cornered my mechanic this week and was able to understand that he put in an extra grease seal to the nose wheel to rid of the lateral slop. my mechanic also looked at the wheel again and told me the snap ring has worn away its pre defined groove. he indicated the groove was much bigger than he had seen in other airplane wheels and this was causing the lateral play in the wheel. so, i was told i need a new wheel due to this wear. now, is it better to get both wheel halves, or should i just get one half of the wheel (the half that has the indicated wear) and try to mate it with the old half? i haven't started looking too hard yet, but i'm thinking the part no. wheel I have currently may not be available any more. does any one know what part no. are equivalent? the current wheel is a cleveland... i was tempted to get a wheel from grove...thoughts?

i have a 1964 m20c and i noticed on the ground the other day that my nose wheel moves laterally on the spindle structure. My mechanic thinks i'm missing a washer of some sort and also mentioned potentially having to replace the entire nose wheel assembly because of wear!! my mechanic put a metal shim in the wheel and this stopped the lateral movement, but he indicated this was just a temp fix. i really don't want to buy a new wheel assembly, so i am trying to figure out if the problem can be fixed by a smaller replacement. i was reading some other forums and thought it could be that the wheel bearings need to be replaced, But other forums also said you would feel the nose wheel pull the aircraft on touchdown... and i do not feel any pulling on touchdown. it is just freeplay in wheel laterally on the spindle.