mooniac58 Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 Hello all! I asked this in the MAPA list without getting a response (there I was hoping to reach the LASAR guys!) so I will try here too: The flap indicator has broke in my '87 M20J and I was wondering if anyone knew of an upgrade part to make it digital (like the newer Mooney's seem to have) instead of the plastic push rod style. Thanks! Quote
Piloto Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 Keep the push rod, is more reliable and works with no power. José Quote
nishantc04 Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 If it were me, I would just fix the flap indicator. It's a very simple design and it's reliable. I actually just fixed my trim indicator yesterday -- very basic. Nishant Quote
mooniac58 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Posted March 24, 2009 Quote: nishantc04 If it were me, I would just fix the flap indicator. It's a very simple design and it's reliable. I actually just fixed my trim indicator yesterday -- very basic. Nishant Did you have to remove the panel around that? I noticed everything appeared to be riveted in place, which is why I did not just fix it myself. Quote
nishantc04 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 Quote: mooniac58 Did you have to remove the panel around that? I noticed everything appeared to be riveted in place, which is why I did not just fix it myself. Quote
mooniac58 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Posted March 24, 2009 Ah, my situation is a different one. My aircraft is a '87 J model. The piece that the flap/trim indicator screws into is sort of wrapped around the vertical center console between the footwells and all riveted in place (probably 20-30 rivets). The flap/trim gauge screws in from the front but is smaller than the opening hole for the display, so there is no way to remove it without taking out the panelling around it first. As for how mine broke is different too. Mine has a pair of little clear plastic rods that are painted black at the tip. The flap rod actually broke off and fell down and wound up rolling out onto the co-pilot floor area when I lifted up the carpet. It looks repairable with super-glue - but I figured if I were back there it might be cool to upgrade to the new digital style gauges that the new Mooneys posses. Quote
nishantc04 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Posted March 25, 2009 Sounds like a mooney to me! Takes more work to get to the problem than it does to fix it. ) Quote
Aron Peterson Posted October 31, 2012 Report Posted October 31, 2012 Mooniac58 Were you able to fix the indicator? Quote
andrew Posted October 31, 2012 Report Posted October 31, 2012 I'm interested in what the resolution was on the '87 model was as well. I have looked at the mechanism in the IPC and it seems quite straight forward, but I will be fixing the trim indicator on an '86 K soon and was hoping to find a minimally invasive way of getting to the trim indicator. Quote
laytonl Posted November 1, 2012 Report Posted November 1, 2012 I did this recently on our 78 J. The glass cover will come out through the opening. The plastic part just needs to be super glued to the rod. It is really a pain in the butt to do, because the rod doesn't come up to the opening. It has to be done by feel. I went ahead and pulled the trim indicator off and re-glued it while I was in there. Good luck, Lee Quote
Piloto Posted November 1, 2012 Report Posted November 1, 2012 Mine broke exactly the same way. I got the translucent rod from Home Depot but don't remember the department. It is actually a piece of hollow plastic tubing that looks identical. I just painted the tip black. Don't recall having any difficulties fixing it. José Quote
Aron Peterson Posted November 1, 2012 Report Posted November 1, 2012 Thank you very much. I will give this a swing. Quote
mooniac58 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Report Posted November 1, 2012 Mine ended up being a funny story. I was working on this until about 2AM alongside my A&P that was burning the midnight oil to complete an annual on a C-172, this was when I lived in Hawaii back in 2009. The little rods that Mooney used had a kind of ball at the end that butts with the actuator rod (which has its own knobby end). The factory would use some shrink tube to hold the two items together. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I could make such a part and I asked my A&P. He looked puzzled for a while then after a minute I could see that big lightbulb over his head. He said that for no good reason he had a fetish of collecting swizzle sticks from various resorts and bars. As most of you know these have a little round knob on the end of most of them. He handed me a bundle of about 100 of these things and I went through them finding ones of a close diameter and with the smallest "ball" on the end I could find. With an exacto knife and a lot of patience I carved out two of them to a near perfect match, painted the tips black and shrink wrapped them just like the stock ones. To this day I get a lot of people asking because my flaps indicator is an orange stick with a black tip - from the Mauna Kea resort on the Kona coast of the Big Island. A great conversation piece! 1 Quote
flyboy0681 Posted December 1, 2013 Report Posted December 1, 2013 I need to follow up on this rather old post. My flap indicator is not working and it appears that the black indicator mark isn't behind the clear plastic window anymore. Going through these posts I couldn't get a feel for what I should be looking for in terms of repairing it and would appreciate some guidance. Quote
laytonl Posted December 2, 2013 Report Posted December 2, 2013 Flyboy0681, There is a cable with a push rod that has a translucent piece of plastic glued on top. The translucent plastic rod (actually it is square, and not a rod) has a black mark painted on it. It sounds like your plastic rod feel off of the push rod. You may need to drill out a few rivets on the co-pilots side and feel around to find the plastic rod. It will be laying in there somewhere, probably on the floor. You can make the repair through the flap indicator window once you find the missing piece. Good luck and let me know if you need more info. Lee Quote
flyboy0681 Posted December 2, 2013 Report Posted December 2, 2013 Flyboy0681, There is a cable with a push rod that has a translucent piece of plastic glued on top. The translucent plastic rod (actually it is square, and not a rod) has a black mark painted on it. It sounds like your plastic rod feel off of the push rod. You may need to drill out a few rivets on the co-pilots side and feel around to find the plastic rod. It will be laying in there somewhere, probably on the floor. You can make the repair through the flap indicator window once you find the missing piece. Good luck and let me know if you need more info. Lee Now for what earthly reason would Mooney place rivets there instead of screws? Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted December 2, 2013 Report Posted December 2, 2013 Now for what earthly reason would Mooney place rivets there instead of screws? A rivet costs one cent and can be set in five seconds. A screw and nut cost a quarter and takes a minute to assemble. Quote
flyboy0681 Posted December 2, 2013 Report Posted December 2, 2013 A rivet costs one cent and can be set in five seconds. A screw and nut cost a quarter and takes a minute to assemble. No excuse. Quote
fantom Posted December 2, 2013 Report Posted December 2, 2013 A screw and nut cost a quarter and takes a minute to assemble. ....and after a while will back off. Drilling out a rivet is NBD. If it wasn't for all those hard landings, that flap indicator rod wouldn't have fallen off, flyboy. Quote
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