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Looks like a great trip! Looking forward to hearing more.

I'm getting estimates on a GFC500 installation (and assorted other goodies) on my 201, to replace the old Century IIb. If anyone has installed a GFC500 in place of an old single axis autopilot with the AP disconnect on the center console like the old Century, what are you using for a trim switch/AP disco? I am reading the installation manual and it doesn't seem to specify a Garmin part number for the yoke switch.

I'd recommend it. It provides peace of mind for moving a large amount of money, and you usually get service for what you pay for--the escrow service handles the paperwork, all you and the buyer/seller do is write the sales agreement and wire the money. If you don't know the seller/buyer, it's a good idea to have a detailed sales agreement hammered out in writing. Not because people are bad or dishonest, but so that everyone knows what the expectations are going in. I took the AOPA's suggested sales agreement language and edited it to fit our situation. Using the AOPA language as a starting point sets in everyone's mind "this is a standard thing to do" and minimizes friction, IMO.

The prepayment penalty holds only for the first year or two of the loan (at least on both loans I have had with them). After that period, you can prepay in any amount at any time.

For financing, I have had a very good experience with Dave Savoie with US Aircraft Finance co. I have financed two airplanes with them including my Mooney. https://www.usaircraftfinance.com/

Yep, that's the one.

I just got an update from my mechanic...he talked to LASAR today. Evidently the steering truss that was new from them last year was ever so slightly bent--about 0.200" off in one dimension, not sure which one--they are shipping a replacement today. Sounds like the delay was not so much related to fires directly impacting LASAR, but that they had to take it to another machine shop to do some precision measurements on it to find out what was wrong.

So, as I detailed in another post, I had to send my nose gear to LASAR for some testing. I talked with my mechanic the other day and he said that LASAR is saying they're fairly heavily affected by the ongoing wildfires. I imagine that in addition to the effect on their business, the individual employees are having to deal with risks to their homes and disruption in their lives. Here's hoping all turns out well for them! Has anyone else heard anything from LASAR in the last few days?

Vigilance is key. When I was a student pilot, I had a communications failure (hard short caused a stuck mike, but I didn't know what exactly the problem was in the air). I circled outside the Class D airspace around my home airport, squawking 7600, but never saw any light signals, so I flew north to a nearby untowered field. I set up in the pattern to land on a runway consistent with the wind direction at the other airport (usually there is very little difference between these two). I was watching pretty carefully for traffic but missed seeing another airplane taking off in the opposite direction from my landing (as it turned out, I had selected the runway appropriately, and the other guy was taking off with a tailwind). As I turned on to the short final, I saw the other airplane climbing toward me. I made a hard bank to the right, sidestepping and going around again in the pattern for a landing. I noticed that he also banked right. The other guy was probably cussing me out for not listening to my radio and not talking, and I was wondering why he was taking off with a tailwind. Both of us should have been looking harder for traffic. Since that scare, I always take extra care to look for traffic on the ground and in the air when I'm operating at an untowered airport. About a year after that incident, I encountered an ultralight in the pattern at a different untowered airport. That airport has a published pattern altitude for ultralights that is about 300 feet lower than the normal pattern, but this guy was putting along at about 50 kt at the higher altitude, flying left traffic for the runway with a tailwind. Really hard to see, because I was flying into the sun, and he was flying away from the sun--he had probably chosen to land with a tailwind so he could see better. In another stupid pilot trick, at the same airport, I was flying with a friend not long after I had got my PPL, and I was setting up to enter the pattern, while I heard two other pilots both announcing they were on long, straight-in finals for opposing ends of the single runway (there was a significant enough wind that the choice mattered). I was announcing my intentions to enter the pattern, and these two guys kept talking past each other, getting closer and closer and closer. Finally I decided to just turn around and not get mixed up in that. Eventually their little game of chicken resolved itself with one of them going around and entering the pattern to land in the appropriate direction. Every spring, it seems like people knock the rust off their flying skills to some degree or other, and proceed to make weird decisions. It's best to always be vigilant.

If you want to get up to date performance numbers for your airplane, one option would be to perform the EAA's published flight test program on your airplane. It wouldn't be official, and it's likely you'd get lower numbers than the book, but they would be realistic for the way you fly the airplane. I'm actually thinking of doing this with my 201 before I fly the program on the RV-10 I'm building, so I would have some experience in how to do it.

What made you decide to pull the engine?

Tim Olson, a builder of an RV-10 and an RV-14, details his cascade filling system here: https://www.myrv10.com/tips/accessories/oxygen/index.html I just bought the parts he calls out from weldingsupply.com. I had to get the pigtail hose from Amazon. It's a simple system, requiring you to connect and disconnect from each cylinder in turn. It would be simple to add a valved manifold to tie everything together, but for as often as you need to fill a tank, this is plenty easy. Hose I bought is here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ENY50E/

Thanks for the additional replies, guys. The bend in the push rod ends that carusoam highlights is the one in question. As far as we can tell now, there are no other bent/damaged parts in the linkage.

Thanks, that's great information. Just eyeballing it, I think they measured it about a foot outboard from either side, so you're right that it is exaggerated. I'm not sure if they took that dimension from some resource or from talking with LASAR. I know they did speak with LASAR about it before they talked to me.

Possibly, but the wheel rubs lightly when it's disconnected from the linkage...

I asked the guys about spacers/shims and they said there only appears to be about 0.030" of play to adjust in the direction away from the wheel well wall (on the truss attach bolts). I didn't ask about spacers on the axle. I keep the tire inflated to the specified 49 psig. I had not noticed the bend you saw in the wall, but do see it now, where the paint has rubbed (in my picture; I'm not at the shop at the moment).

Yes, both are bent, about to the same degree. I have not used the manual extension system, and it looks as if they have been bent for a while, given that the paint is off the bent area, and the metal underneath looks fairly dull, not bright as migh be expected if it were recent. It may be that the retraction rods were bent last year and we didn't catch it--there was damage to the nose gear assembly due to improper towing that was caught during the pre-purchase inspection, and the gear actuator motor and gearbox were trashed (unrelated). Could the damaged gearbox have been related to a problem with over-extension?

The tire has not been changed, although they just repacked the bearings last week. I *think* the tire is right--these guys are likely to have checked it--they are usually very thorough.

Thanks for replying. It seems to me that the wheel has rubbed for a while (I don't remember a time that the paint wasn't rubbed there), but the shop guys say that during the retract cycle the tire was making a loud squeaking sound as it went up into the well, and that they hadn't heard that last year. The truss is new from LASAR last year. The axle mount and upper parts of the gear mount are not new, however, their paint is very good, and the logs show that this nose gear was replaced only a few years ago, when the prior owner had the LASAR modified nose gear installed via the STC. Hopefully, LASAR will be able to see what's wrong, but what's really weird is that the gear doesn't bind at all other than with the tire rub. It is moveable easily by hand and swings easily down by gravity, when it is disconnected from the actuation linkage. If the gear structure or airframe were distorted, I'd expect it to bind, or the attachment bolts to be difficult to insert/remove due to misalignment, but there appears to be no such misalignment. The only thing we can think of yet is that the wheel appeared to always be slightly turned even if the rudder were centered, perhaps the truss came slightly out of whack from LASAR and we're just noticing it now? The bent rod ends on the actuation pushrods are a head scratcher, though.

So, I am sending it out to Lasar to inspect, but still would love to hear from anyone who may have seen something similar in the past, and have any advice. Thanks!

Graphite sounds super sketchy in any application that may come into contact with aluminum. In my experience, powdered carbons make a great electrolyte that induces and accelerates corrosion. You're not even supposed to mark aluminum parts with a graphite pencil.

The tire is rubbing on the well and the hub is very close to touching. The pin inthe castellated nut touches the wall of the well. In addition, the retraction linkage pushrods appear to be bent. I have had no hard landings or hits on the nosegear since i began flying the airplane. No heavy side loads either. They took a straight rod and checked alignment of the truss and found it was crooked a bit (pic attached). The frame on the airplane is straight and the bushings are concentric on both the frame and the truss. They are recommending sending it to LASAR to check it. Thoughts?

My '78 J is in for annual, and I'm told by the mechanics that the nose gear is rubbing the wheel well as it retracts. I'm headed over to see it in a little while, but wanted to see if anyone here has thoughts on it. The nose gear truss was replaced by the same shop last year during the pre-purchase inspection, and they did not see this kind of rubbing then. They also re-rigged the gear and rudder systems during that inspection. I thought perhaps it might be related to holding right rudder during retraction, but they say that it does it when the gear is held straight as well. Hopefully I'll get some pics this afternoon. Any ideas on causes, and whether this might be a serious condition? Where in the gear system can we look for any mis fit?

Could have been virga.

Is your display set to show both composite and base data? It's not just ADS-B; anyone who looks at NEXRAD data will see the same thing. As others have mentioned, it's necessary to look at the age of the data. But also, depending on the distance from the radar station, the composite picture can show moisture that is at high altitudes but not reaching down to your flight altitude.