The gear actuator that was not a problem

[Yetti]

All this work was done under the supervision of an IA.

The described issue.  About every 5^th or 10^th the breaker would blow on the gear down.  Never a big issue, just put the breaker back in and it would continue on it’s way to down and locked.  Nothing in the log book about servicing gear.  It is an ITT actuator.  First step was to replace breaker since they get old and wear out.   That was done and found another breaker where the wire was loose on it.  So yay another potential issue found.

Planned for annual to pull the actuator and send it off for servicing and a lube.

Called a MSC and they said they would take a look at it.   As an FYI it takes a ground off socket to reach one of the nuts and the removal of 2 belly panels.   Which was fine since it was annual and it allowed me to clean up all the gunky brake fluid that went there from the leaky master cylinder. master brake cylinder rebuilt with 3 Mil spec O rings.

So ship off actuator.  Wait a week.  Annual is finished but no actuator. Finally start calling.  After several weeks find that gears are fine and things are lubed.   Find that sometimes there is a brake in the back of the motor that will come unpinned and fall off and short.  The reason for the brake is so the gear does not work down while flying.  The brake is released by the 4^th terminal on the solenoid (sear tractor forum to learn about 4^th terminal).

MSC and I agree to ship motor off to California to have it gone through. 

Wait several weeks and start calling MSC to learn status of motor.

MSC refers me to the motor repair.  Motor repair says my Emergency Disconnect is bad.

There seems to be no Emergency disconnects available.   I find one in Colorado.

Also research if the 12 spline gears can be purchased.  Also look into machining said gears.  Do you know they can Print titanium parts now.

More time goes by.  Start weekly calling of MSC.

Finally get a “We are shipping it back and there is no charge”

I get a box of disassembled components back.

Start inspecting the supposed bad gear actuator and find no issues.  Trade photos with A&P and he says no issues.

So grease everything and reassemble and safety wire.

Tell saga to IA.  His comment is “sometimes people try and sell you stuff”

Reinstall into plane.  Do 3-4 Emergency gear extensions.  Do 3-4 regular gear ups and downs.   Make video to check alignment on everything.

IA comes and checks assembly and the overlocks and other things that IAs know how to do.

Lessons Learned

If you read about the Mooney Electric gear you would think they are flimsy one step away from breaking.  That is not the case.  The gear actuator is a really well made unit.  The Emergency gear disconnect is well designed and will still be there when the airframe is toast.

Does not matter how much you try to do things the right way, you will sometimes having to do it yourself

Since February there has not been any circuit breaker popping

As much as you would like for people to project manage things, sometimes you have to do it yourself

If I had not stayed on top of it, I would probably still not be flying

It is good to have skills in how mechanical thins work. 

Dad was right, learning to fix things, will take you far

If people are going to outsource things, they should check their vendors to make sure they are doing things to keep everything moving along

I will need to have a conversation with the MSC.  I believe him to annoyed with me

Total time of annual was from End of November to beginning of February.

I would love to have access to the factory component supplier list

It would be incredibly frustrating to be in most people shoes just relying on others to get your plane back together so you can go flying

Not having a plane to fly for 2-3 months is a bummer

After two annuals with the IA he is learning to trust me more….

The plane is in a little better shape that is was last year.

[Hank]

Wow. Hope that takes care of it for the next 40 years! 

[carusoam]

Nice report, Yeti.

thanks for sharing the details.

Best regards,

-a-

[MB65E]

So what exactly was the issue?

I've read it 2x, a pin in brake of the motor fell and shorted?

just trying to wrap my head around it. 

Are the Dukes and ITT's interchangeable airframe to airframe? 

65E, duke electric gear. 

-Matt

[Yetti]

Sometimes taking things apart, cleaning and regreasing seems to help old stuff.

I did not open the motor when I got it back. It looked it had not been opened.  Looks like they stopped at the emergency disconnect.  So that is what I checked and cleaned and lubed.

Best I can tell they would be mechanically interchangeable.  I have seen several versions of wiring....  The wiring should be checked.

[MB65E]

Yes, the stir the pot  technique.

Works great, lasts long time!!

-Matt

[Yetti]

So it has been a year and the gear popping the breaker has not resurfaced

[steingar]

And we wonder why folks don't want to get into aviation.

[N201MKTurbo]

When I bought this plane in '03 it had recurring gear problems. The actuator had been rebuilt 3 times in the previous 3 years. It would pop the breaker periodically and you could feel the seat raise up when you retracted the gear. When I finally decided to get to the root of the problem I found the rear mounting boss for the actuator was installed upside down. This was done during repairs of a gear up landing.  It caused the actuator to bind at both ends of its travel. This problem was investigated and not resolved three times by a MSC before I bought the plane. All they did was send the actuator out for overhaul. Made LASER a lot of money and I got a practically brand new actuator!

[Yetti]

Trouble shooting is hard.  A lot easier to just replace/rebuild components.  Problem sometimes goes away, or just gets further masked.

[Yetti]

On 2/2/2018 at 8:18 AM, Yetti said:

So it has been a year and the gear popping the breaker has not resurfaced

Update on year 3.   We did not fly the plane as much last year, but happy to report the gear popping the breaker issue has not resurfaced.   I also believe lubing all the gear with good grease helps this issue as much as the actuator being in good shape.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Yetti