PT20J

Agree with @EricJ . Mooney brakes work fine but it takes a lot more pedal pressure than on many other makes. Raising the flaps after touchdown gets more weight on the wheels and helps. @donkaye suggested deploying the speed brakes after touchdown, which also helps. I move my feet up on the pedals after touch down so that the ball of my foot is on the top of the pedal and that helps get more pressure on the brakes without breaking my toes. Just be careful because there isn't much feel between maximum braking and locked up and it's easy to flat spot a tire. Also, after replacing the linings, be sure to break them in properly. Skip

When I used to design telco equipment, the specs required there be no cooling fans since the MTBF for fans was much lower than the rest of the electronics. You can imagine the issue at a large central office with an acre of equipment racks. If every box had a cooling fan, there would be thousands of them and probably multiple failures per day. Quite a trick to design for convection cooling with the possibility that your unit was mounted at the top of an 11' 6" telco rack with everything below heating up your box! Compared to that, the radio stack in an airplane is a piece of cake. The biggest issue is going to be heat soaking when the airplane has been sitting on a hot ramp in the summer for a few hours. In a J there is a central cooling fan (unless it's been removed) and it may be possible to direct a duct to blow air on the back of the GTN equipment tray. Skip

The wing gauges on my M20J are within 5-10% by actual measurement on the ground. They seem to read about right in the air also. The dial on the top of the wing is magnetically coupled to the float inside the tank with the dial being glued in with RTV. Some have reported that they've had one go missing. The accuracy can be affected if someone replaced one and didn't get it rotated just right. Skip

The KAP 150 has gain adjustments for matching with the gyro. It might be good to check that whatever they do to the gyro shouldn't affect the autopilot. After you get it back if the airplane doesn't fly wings level (HDG and NAV off), there is a an adjustment hole in the front panel (toward the left side) for a mini blade screwdriver to adjust this. When checking if the airplane is level, the official way is to put a level across the seat rails -- it's more accurate than the ball in the TC. You can tweak tire pressure to adjust if necessary. Skip

It is very close to SEM Phantom White.

Anthony, I should have posted the page from the TCDS to make it clear. I think 24-3000 — 24-3078 were the 205s. They had higher gear speeds, too. Not sure why. There is sometimes confusion about flap speeds on other models due to the wording in the TCDS and POH about the limitation applying to full flaps. But, since there is no published higher speed for partial flaps, the full flap speed must be taken as applying to lesser flap extensions as well. Skip

126 knots = 145 mph

Mysteriously, The 205 had an increased 15-deg flap speed of 126 KIAS. Anyone know what was different? Later models of the J deleted this. Skip

I’ve found Garmin tech support very knowledgeable and helpful. Skip

This is an example of why I dislike this sort of pirep on social media. There are always two sides to the story and it's impossible for third parties to make sense of what really happened. Each side will argue to the death that their view is right. Thirty years ago, I ran a small company and did business with Dana. I found him to be honest, forthright and very willing to share his business knowledge and advice. The fact that Dana has built a company that has not only survived but prospered for so long must signify something. I can only think of a few others that have been so successful: Hal Shevers, and the Irwins come to mind. More recently I had Greg offer to loan me an instrument to troubleshoot an intermittent avionics problem without even knowing much about me. I've met Greg at a tradeshow and found him knowledgeable and extremely willing to share his knowledge and experience to help a fellow aviator out. One thing we might all learn from this is that it is going to be easier to deal with post installation issues if you only have one company to deal with. I recently had a warranty issue with a GTX 345 and there were no problems at all because I purchased the equipment and the installation from the same shop. When multiple entities are involved, there is bound to be finger pointing. At least that's been my experience. I've done it both ways and no longer find the small cost savings to be worth the potential hassle. Skip

Me too -- I still reach for a Kleenex. It's one of the powers of branding. I only pointed it out so that the newer folks would know that there are a couple of names for the same thing. Aircraft parts names and numbering systems are so confusing.

Heim is actually a trade name -- now owned by RBC bearings. They are also know generically as rod ends. Skip

Even Richard Collins listed the inability to get insurance coverage at the limits he wanted and at a reasonable price as one of the factors that caused him to quit flying in his early 70's.

A few points: First, great job handling a true emergency. Loud noises followed by controllability problems are scary -- especially at night. It's common to second guess your actions afterward when the adrenalin has dissipated. Just remember that no one handles an emergency perfectly unless it's been repeatedly practiced. This isn't something we can easily practice. The broken part looks like a casting that may have failed due to corrosion. The inspection panels between the tailcone and empennage should be removed at each annual inspection to inspect this area and lubricate the trim jackscrew inside the boot. This might be considered a "Flight control system malfunction or failure" reportable to the NTSB per 830.5 (a). It would not hurt anything to file a report. Also, I would make sure that your mechanic files a Service Difficulty Report and I would contact Mooney as they may want to inspect the part and perform analysis on it to determine the root cause. Mooney has used a couple of trim assist systems. All the models through the J had up springs and down springs and the balance point is dependent on the tail incidence angle, the latter being controlled by the trim system. On the ground in these models, the elevator sits in trail with the stabilizer when the trim is set to neutral. You can feel the springs when you move the elevator up and down during preflight. You can see the effect of the springs on the elevator position if you watch the elevator as you adjust the trim up and down on the ground. The part that broke is the attachment point for the up springs. When it let loose, it left you with only the downs springs which is why you had to pull so hard and the elevator now droops. The K and later models have a different system with a variable down spring and they sit on the ground with the elevator full down. Skip

@carusoam, if it's sold, there's no permanent value in the thread so why not just delete the topic?

The best way to ensure the correct information is to go to the source. Parker (manufacturer of Cleveland wheels and brakes) has an online parts catalog for aircraft make and model. http://corpappstest.parker.com/corpapps/EConfigurator/Home?mfgDivision=687454&option=99&series=ONLINE PRODUCT CATALOG There you will find:

There are threads on MS by people that have 3D printed and laser engraved replacements Also, you can pop the cover off and paint it white with SEM or Krylon plastic paint and laser print a legend in a font that matches the existing switches on a clear Avery label and attach it to the painted cover and the overcoat it with several coats of clear Krylon. I did this with my avionics master switch when the cover broke. Skip

Here ya go... 201hist.xls

I've never tried it although the manual for the J says it works. But... The wheelbase is about 72". The airplane sits about 5 deg. nose high. 72 * tan(5 deg) = 6.3". It's hard to see how you could lower the nose 6" by deflating the tire. You could always run the mains up on a couple of short 2x6 boards and then let air out of the nose wheel tire. Skip

Since it’s running rough, and given that it’s been intermittent and got better when you disconnected the harness from the plugs to swap positions, I’d test the harness. Also, I’d check the resistance <5K on the plugs - especially if they are older Champions.

When you get excessive mag drop, is the engine running smoothly or rough? Rough indicates a misfire likely a plug or harness issue. Smooth indicates a mag or timing issue. Did you clean and gap the plugs when you rotated them? Mag guys tell me that the engine actually prefers a gap on the wide side of the allowable range because it allows the voltage to build higher before the gap arcs resulting in a hotter spark and more efficient ignition. Also, as the points wear, the internal timing of the mag (E-gap) can change. The quick fix for this is to "bump" the mag buy rotating it slightly to bring the mag-engine timing back to spec. If successive bumping accumulates to more than 5 degrees (that's Slick's spec, not sure what Bendix recommends but probably similar) the internal timing needs to be reset. When the internal timing is off, it results in a weaker spark even though the mag-engine timing correct. As @DXB suggested, they're due for the 500 hour inspection anyway and as part of that, the shop will reset the E-gap. I use these guys: https://www.aircraftmagnetoservice.net/ Skip

I would expect it to work - the Floscan transducer is an open collector transistor output and the Shadin has the pull up resistor to Vcc. The JPI. Just piggy backs on the signal pulses. But, I’d double check with JPI. I’ve found JPI’s tech support to be very knowledgeable and helpful. I suspect the live APS courses are a thing of the past. Walter and John had a falling out with George which has since been settled with George being the sole owner of all the intellectual property as I understand it. Walter passed away recently. I haven’t communicated with John in a while, so I don’t know what’s up with him but he freely shared a lot of advice about round engines and warbirds for my volunteer work at the museum. Great guy. I took the APS course in Ada back in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I flew there in a friend’s Arrow with dual VORs, no GPS, and an inop DME. Most of the attendees were Cirrus owners and they couldn’t believe I could possibly fly to Oklahoma from California without dual GPS, an engine monitor, an autopilot and XM weather. Half the fun of the seminar was the war stories shared byJohn, George and Walter. Skip

No Tinnermans. I ordered #4, #6 and #8 Tinnermans separately. #4 used for some interior screws. The exterior screws at #6 and #8. But, I rarely have to replace a Tinnerman. Skip

I'm sure you are correct about the OP's situation -- I was just including the info for completeness in case someone read this and thought that it included everything. JPI uses Floscan transducers (and they bought Floscan last year) so I know for sure it works with those. Not sure about others. Skip

I just did this with my EDM 700. For $195 you get the modification and the wiring harness -- no transducer. The harness lets you piggy back the transducer signal from wherever it is currently connected (mine is connected to a Shadin Miniflo-L) and also lets you input GPS data to the EDM for range calculations. The harness includes a three position toggle switch to allow the EDM 700 to display EGT (normal mode without fuel flow), FF (fuel flow related) or ALL data. Skip