jaylw314 Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 32 minutes ago, Shadrach said: I just spoke with Ole (sp?), one of the owners of Aeromotors. He spent a solid 20 mins on the phone with me detailing all of the upgrades that Aeromotors has made to the Dukes design. It's primarily materials changes but there are also a few design mods that improve reliability. The original duke's design utilizes a sleeve bearing on the rotor shaft that needs fuel for lubricant. This has been replaced with a sealed ball bearing that has been relocated outside of the rotor cavity (Dry). The shaft seals have been upgraded from O-Rings to Lip Seals (crankshaft seals are a type of Lip Seal) in addition to a host of other small changes and refinements. Ole told me that he personally ran one of their overhauled pumps dry for a continuous 10 hours with no sign of wear afterward. He then ran that same pump wet for 200hrs continuous with no wear. Aeromotors also overhauls Weldon pumps which he said are robust but have their own set of issues that Aeromotors has addressed. The impression that I was given is that any advantages to switching to Weldon have been mitigated by the minor changes Aeromotors has made to the Dukes. I came away from the conversation feeling that either pump should be far more reliable after being overhauled by Aeromotors. I'm hoping that's the case because I accepted his offer to build an exchange for me so that they'd have next day turn around when my core arrives. Ole seems a genuinely nice guy, if Aeromotors does what he says it does then this is a big win for folks that have been living with the fragility of the Dukes pump. Cost for OH is $450 before shipping. Admittedly, in the big picture $450 for a aux fuel pump every 8 years is pretty minor compared to all the other things, but you're right, it is frustrating how much bad we'll put up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrach Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 1 minute ago, jaylw314 said: Admittedly, in the big picture $450 for a aux fuel pump every 8 years is pretty minor compared to all the other things, but you're right, it is frustrating how much bad we'll put up with. It was $1000 to overhaul before Aeromotors got into the business. And while $1000 is not a lot in the scheme of airplane MX, it's still a lousy return on investment. Plus the dispatch issue, never know where or when the pump is going to fail. Fun to deal with away from home? Perhaps just preemptively replace every 3 years? It's my hope that with the improvements that Aeromotors has made the pump at least as robust as the Lucas pump on a non restored, non running, 47 year old Jaguar E-type. Admittedly, in the big picture maybe that's asking too much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylw314 Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 6 minutes ago, Shadrach said: It was $1000 to overhaul before Aeromotors got into the business. And while $1000 is not a lot in the scheme of airplane MX, it's still a lousy return on investment. Plus the dispatch issue, never know where or when the pump is going to fail. Fun to deal with away from home? Perhaps just preemptively replace every 3 years? It's my hope that with the improvements that Aeromotors has made the pump at least as robust as the Lucas pump on a non restored, non running, 47 year old Jaguar E-type. Admittedly, in the big picture maybe that's asking too much... That IS a rather depressing comparison... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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