SKI

Being a machinist and owning a CNC Shop it's a no brainer to me to just make them and move on with your life. It's a little more complicated if you don't have any knowledge in this department. All you really need to worry about is the outside diameter. The length can be easily measured with dial calipers. +/- .003" here would be plenty close I'd think. The inside diameter is just clearance for whatever size bolt goes inside. Again a few thousandths total clearance would probably be good I think. Not too much slop but you want some room for grease to get around the bolt. The outside diameter is critical as it needs to be pressed into the gear legs. If you can knock them out take them to a local machine shop and ask them to reproduce them. Take them the new bolts as well. Some kind of bronze will do. Google is your friend here then cross check McMaster-Carr and see what's readily available. Don't pick some oddball bronze for the space shuttle that your local shop can't get. They're going to charge you for a low run of custom parts but it may still be cheaper than Lasar. It's really not a hard job. Finding a small local machine shop might be the hardest part. Yes I know certified airplanes blah blah but the reality is we're trying to keep antiques flying. If you're not willing to get creative and solve problems when PMA parts aren't available you're going to be grounded eventually for a simple part like this.

That might be the best tip I've read on Mooneyspace. I'll definitely be trying that one next time!!!

I haven't looked at the curriculum so maybe my idea wouldn't save much time in getting your licenses. Regardless, something needs done to make maintenance more accessible to owners. It's not even the cost entirely. If you literally can't find anyone to work on it and have to wait months to get maintenance done that's going to sour owners and push them out of aviation. I 100% don't blame some young A&P for going to the airlines or some other industry to make much more money and have benefits. The answer in my opinion is for owners to be able to maintain (With the proper training in some way, Shape or Form) their own aircraft. Or even more people will transition to experimental. I love my Mooney and I have an A&P I work with doing owner assisted maintenance but if that wasn't an option I would probably be in a VANS RV.

I always say I wish they would break the A&P certificates down like they do pilot licenses. Your basic A&P license would be for aluminum piston singles and twins. Then have add-on's for turbine and pressurization, Radial engines, Tube and fabric, Composites ect. It would shorten the time required to get your license and more owners might get their A&P license. The vast majority of GA planes have piston engines and aluminum construction. If you want to work on other types go back to school and take a class on whatever you need.

My addition to the conversation. I sold my Cherokee to a student pilot on my field late last year. He was through Solo and had about 20 hours. He had a landing mishap in January and now the plane is down for months being repaired. Some pilots are better than others student or not. I think flying a trainer type for a few hundred hours after your PPL is a really good idea. I'm absolutely glad I did it that way. There's PLENTY more to be learned boring holes in the sky at 110 Kts going to breakfast and taking short flights around home as your experience builds. As was said above insurance rates tell all you need to know.

When I was looking I had my mind set on a E model cause I rarely fly with anyone in the back seat. I definitely wanted one with the 201 windshield mod and the flat instrument panel and 201 yokes were really nice as well. Better cowling, Newer airframe ect. I went and looked at a J about 8 months before I found mine and as soon as I sat in it I was like "Yep this is it" They do cost more but I think you get more. As to how much more they cost over a E model it's hard to say. I will say if you want a J get a J. I smile every time I fly mine, Hell I smile walking into the hangar and seeing it sitting there.

I'm new to flying Mooney's so certainly no expert but airspeed is the most important thing for landing any airplane. Too much or too little and you're going to have a bad day. I got my PPL at a 2800' strip so I always pay extra attention to airspeed. My PPL CFI would start saying " Airspeed. Runway " Over and Over once abeam the numbers until touchdown. It still goes through my head now over and over. Everyone makes mistakes and I'm certainly not perfect. I hangar my J at a 5500' strip and one evening I wanted to see what happened if I came over the numbers at 85 Kts. I was shocked at how long it floated. Definitely gave me more incentive to make sure to be on speed.

I did mine on my J model recently. I bought the seals from GeeBeeAeroproducts. I probably had 12-15 hours labor. The seals are precut and required VERY little trimming but definitely some trimming and fiddling around. If your handy I'd order the seal kit from Guy and do it yourself. If you want someone to do it, I'd say $1500.00 probably isn't too bad.

I bought a J model in December with 350 Hr. TT no RG and no IR. 130K Hull value and my premium was just over $5K for the first year. I'm based at KIDI and the runway there is over 5000'. I'm sure that probably helped a lot. Just giving you some fairly current real world numbers. I knew insurance would be painful year one but that's the price to play. If you want to fly a Mooney you'll just have to suck it up at some point and get year one out of the way.

That makes sense. He did say he used it to get to his place in Florida a few times a year.

So I bought my J from Indy Air Sales in December. This was my transition training instructor's plane. I saw it for sale a month or so ago and texted him about it. He didn't elaborate on why he was selling but he definitely loved that plane and couldn't say enough good about it when we were flying off my hours. I could tell he wasn't crazy about selling but I'm guessing something came up in his life. He was an older guy. Good luck and hopefully it gives you many years of fun. Their great planes and I think my J lands easier than my Cherokee.

If your I/A will sign off on it then I would do it myself. Plus you would have redundancy with the handle safety wired and a pipe plug installed when you didn't need the hose barb for draining your oil. Some of the regs are nonsense for 60+ year old tractor engine technology but it is what it is.

Would it work, yes. Would it work better and cheaper, probably. Will your I/A sign off on it at annual, Doubtful. There's the answer unless your I/A will sign off on it you can't really do it.

So I recently bought a J. My transition instructor tried something the first day at lunch and it didn't work. So in my hotel that night I was searching Mooneyspace and found the below procedure around here somewhere. It's dirt simple and has worked every time I have tried it. I'm usually running in 4-6 blades. #1 Mixture, Prop and Throttle all full forward for 10-12 seconds. No Boost pump. #2 Mixture Full lean and Throttle about 1000-1200 RPM (Basically cracked open 1/8-3/16 on mine) #3 Crank till it catches then advance Mixture. #4 Smile and breath A sigh of Relief you didn't just kill your starter and battery.

I bought one off a member here about 6 weeks ago. My hangar is also slightly up hill and only 40' wide so I needed a controlled way to get my J in. I paid $1500 and I think new they are about $2200. Even if you need to pay the $2200 I highly recommend them. They are worth every penny in my opinion. Hanger rash on a wingtip or a screwed up back is way worse than paying the money in the grand scheme of aviation.