Gear Door problem

[helitim]

Mooniacs,

The attached photos show the gear doors on my J.  As you can see, when the doors are open,the right side gear door leans way in towards the centerline of the plane.  When the doors are closed, the right door does not close all the way properly.  When I adjust the linkage to close the door properly, the right door is even closer to the nose gear.  While this doesn't seem to affect flight of the aircraft, it just looks odd sitting this way.  I also tried moving the small shims back and forth on the bolt where it attaches to the gear door to change the lateral spacing but to no avail.  

Can someone suggest a solution to the misaligned doors or, is this "just the way it is" on some. Mooney's?

Thank you,

Tim

P.S. The engine is out for overhaul which is why things look a bit different in the photos.  

Edited January 5, 2016 by helitim

[carusoam]

First response...

1) they should close up tight.

2) look at other Mooneys on the ground. The doors don't hang perfectly straight.

Looks like they need some adjustment.  The procedure is probably in the MM.

Best regards,

-a-

[helitim]

Carusoam,

Agreed, they should close in flight.  I have looked at other Mooneys and see doors in slightly differing positions but none as "off" as mine.  When I have tried adjusting them, one way is better and the other gets worse.  Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Tim

[jetdriven]

There are eccentric's in the nose gear which affects the timing of the gear doors.  They're on the retraction truss IIRC whee each nose gear pushrod attaches.  Mine are similar to yours, and while they close tightly, one of them is very close to the nose gear when the gear is down.  Try adjusting the eccentrics on the RH side to get the door to pull more tightly closed, which would let you adjust the door out more when the gear is down.  DOing so, you have to reset the nose gear down preload and check the main gear down preload per the SMM.  Be very careful here, and follow the book exactly.

[helitim]

Thank you Byron. 

[Guest]

According to section 32-20-03 "Nose gear door rigging", the eccentrics control retracted height of the nose landing gear in the wheel well.

Clarence

[Piloto]

Check it with the cowling in place. Also check the bearings at the door rod ends. I just replaced my right door rod end.

José

Edited January 6, 2016 by Piloto

[N601RX]

It will be much easier to remount the motor if you remove the mount and attach it to the motor 1st and attach the mount and engine to the airframe.  The castor shim will also bring the wheel further up and quicker into the wheel well if it is needed.

If nothing else is obvious you may want to look at the eccentrics just to make sure that they are both set in the same position.  When I 1st got my plane one of the gear preload rods always toted the load and the other was loose.  One half turn would swap which rod carried the load and was loose.  I finally discovered someone had removed the eccentrics at some point and did not get both back in the same orientation.  This is with an older model which does not have the springs integrated into the arms.  They are very sensitive to even a small adjustment.  

Another possibility is that someone may have replaced the bracket that holds the gear door rod and not put it in the correct position on the door.  I'm not sure if a new door comes with the bracket or not.

[N201MKTurbo]

That's the way they are. They open wider when the wheel goes up. Just adjust the links so they close tight and don't worry about how they hang with the gear down unless they hit something.

[helitim]

Thank you all.  The right door is readjusted to close correctly when in flight.  When open, the door is close to the nose gear but does not touch at any point of operation so, I guess it will be left this way.  It just seems that Mooney would not have designed this system to be somewhat arbitrary in where the gear doors line up when opened.  I just don't believe this is correct but can live with it, I guess.

Tim

[Hank]

Every Mooney that I've ever paid attention to, the nose gear door on one side is open further than on the other. When I compared, it was always the same side. I want to say the pilot side nose gear door opens wider than the right side.