N201JG

Thanks for the input on the tube. It's in the shop now so it's not moving until we get this figured out. I'm starting to think something blocked it on the way up. Could a rat sock do that if it was hanging in the gear path? Mine need replacement and I was messing with them just prior to this flight so I could look into options for replacement.

I have a little more information from the professionals and am looking for a second/third opinion. I have two mechanics who have seen this and they have very different views on the problem. Both of them have been really good in the past with my other airplanes so I am by no means trying to second guess them. The inspection revealed that the right main gear tube was bowed pretty badly. It is the one that has the contacts with the limit switches. I wish I had a picture but I've seen similar pictures on the site when researching this. It's the tube that goes from the actuator down toward the tail. One guy is saying that you can just bend it back. The other is saying it needs to be replaced and this is the cause of all my gear shenanigans from a couple weeks ago. I'm all for replacing the part (560244-501) if I can find one, and that is the plan. Both guys agree the rigging is off and that probably caused the bowing. I'm still having difficulty seeing how this could have caused my problems. One of the guys thinks the wire issues I took pictures of wouldn't have caused this problem. That begs the question why I would have a wire just hanging around in there not connected to anything coming from the up limit switch... Someone tell me where we could be wrong on this. The bowed tube caused the gear retraction to not hit the up limit switch which caused the gear unsafe warning. The breaker didn't pop or anything during this retraction. I should add that I flew the plane the day before and had no issues or hard landings or anything out of the ordinary. Would the gear then not extend because the up limit had not been reached? I was under the impression it would still extend if the gear did not go up all the way. The flybys I did with the gear retracted confirmed that the gear was indeed all the way up or very close to all the way. During the emergency extension, I noted that I did overcrank it....I kept cranking after the green light came on. After landing I stowed the emergency crank. It looks like I did this properly. One of the mechanics said it was safe to fly with the gear down, and that I could try to retract the gear. I did and nothing happened. In hindsight, that probably wasn't the best idea. Could the bowed tube create all this? Could I have bent the tube by overcranking the emergency extension?

Mine has the crank on the left of the pilot and it worked well. I took a couple of pictures today after I removed the belly pan. There is wire that is coming from the up limit switch that is cut. Another picture shows that the gear down line from the gear motor is in pretty bad shape. I’m trying to come up with a scenario how this could have caused my issues. I couldn’t find the other side of the disconnected wire.

I agree. I’m too embarrassed to show the condition of mine. I have little doubt these shredded pieces of fabric caused the initial retract problem. I’m also not sure if I reset the emergency gear extension handle and lock correctly. I’ve read that doing it improperly could result in the electric system being disabled until reset correctly.

That’s what I think happened. There are some canvas-like covers on the inner side of the gear gear doors that aren’t in great condition as I inspected today. They may have had the ability to block the gear from being fully retracted to the limit switch even if it was just a bit off. I thought that would cause the breaker to go if the motor was still working to raise the gear, or maybe the overload just toasted the motor. It’s all speculation I guess until we get a good look on the inside. I appreciate the comments and I’ll let you know what I find out.

Thanks for the input. Everything external looks good as far as the gear itself. The switch is fine. We are going to jack it up and look in the belly later this week. Hopefully just a bad connection somewhere. The gear unsafe light is still bugging me. I got a few more opinions from the people who saw the whole ordeal and they are confident the gear was completely retracted.

I've had a 77 M20J since December. Yesterday, when I retracted the gear, the gear unsafe light stayed illuminated. I tried to lower the gear and nothing. There was no circuit breaker pop and no other indication that anything electrical was going on. After doing a couple of fly-by's to determine that the gear was retracted, or at least mostly retracted, I climbed out and did the emergency extension without issue and made probably the nicest landing in my life. On the ground, the people who were watching the two passes I made with the gear still retracted had a couple slightly different versions. One said the gear looked like it may have been not fully retracted; the other said it was fully retracted. The plane was performing as if they were retracted on the initial climb out. After speaking with the guy who does my maintenance he said it was safe to fly and to see if it retracted on the next flight over to his airport. It did not move. That landing went fine but nearly as pretty as the previous one. Training note to myself - always pretend you don't know if the gear is locked when you land. I've looked through the other forums which have many different causes. Obviously we are going to jack it up and see what the problem is. The gear unsafe light leads me to believe that the gear was not fully retracted, but may have been very close where there wasn't any noticeable drop in performance. The guys who I was communicating to on the ground after I did the emergency extension told me that I should keep turning the handle after the green light came on. Please don't blast me for this. At the time I didn't know that was a no-no and my mechanic wasn't happy that I did that. I've seen in another forum that over-cranking can cause it to get bound up to a point the electric system won't retract it. The breaker didn't pop or anything on the second flight. Nothing happened. I'm thinking/hoping that maybe I have a loose wire somewhere or there is something with the switch. I was recently messing around with some avionics in the vicinity of the gear switch. It's flown without issue since then but it's possible I inadvertently loosened something there. If it turns out to be the motor, can anyone recommend a good overhaul/repair/exchange option for that? Thanks! Ryan