Shocks

[Releew]

Getting ready to change the shock disks.  Is there one manufacturer of this part, or, is there more than one manufacturer, with one better in quality than the other?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Rick

[N6758N]

They are all made by Lord, PN J-11968-14. Same for every M-20 since the mid-late sixties. Expect to pay around $105/piece for each. There are 11 of them. 

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, N6758N said:

They are all made by Lord, PN J-11968-14. Same for every M-20 since the mid-late sixties. Expect to pay around $105/piece for each. There are 11 of them. 

Aircraft Spruce wants $113+ each, shipping included. Aviall is the only Distributor for these so everyone else buys from them. Sky Geek drop ships them from Aviall and their quantity pricing (4+) is $103.92 each, but you pay shipping.

[Mcstealth]

Are the disks made in batches? Does Spruce order a quantity and Lord produces only the order?

[LANCECASPER]

7 hours ago, Mcstealth said:

Are the disks made in batches? Does Spruce order a quantity and Lord produces only the order?

Spruce buys them from Aviall, the Distributor for Lord. There is a cure date on them. But I've never bought them where the cure date was older than six months prior.

[HRM]

Anybody know what Aviall gets for them?

 

Shelf life is 1,825 days (5 yrs).

[Mcstealth]

Just now, HRM said:

Anybody know what Aviall gets for them?

 

Shelf life is 1,825 days (5 yrs).

That is the $103 question  

[carusoam]

Expect that a sales organization uses a cost+ mechanism to resell something that they add no value to...

A simple multiply by 2X usually covers the profit of the sales group.

They probably paid 2X what the manufacturer's All in costs are.

Lord's raw material cost is rubber which is probably less than $1 per pound...

It is probably best to focus on getting the best price you can using leverage wherever possible.

Trying to figure the margins of every middleman is probably impossible.

11 one pound chunks of rubber that costs $11 in raw materials, retails for 1.1amu, and wears out in a decade...

Now what are we going to do?

1) Convince somebody like Rob or our cowling guy to write an STC... for a new disc design/cost structure (hmmmm?)

2) continue to pay through the nose every now and then....

3) find another way to generate competition.

Competition rules!

Best regards,

-a-

[Bravoman]

In response to Anthony's comment above about the disks wearing out in a decade, I understand that they should be changed every 4-5 years on a long body due to the extra weight.  I was told this by my MSC. According to Joey Cole,  the shock absorbency and capability will start to decrease after that such  that the airframe is taking more shock on taxi and landing causing tank leaks etc. That news is much to my chagrin since I put new shock disks on when I bought the plane in 2013.  I land the plane pretty well and and careful when I taxi, but I figure changing the disks every five or so years is relatively cheap insurance against having to seal the tanks and whatever other damage or deterioration can be caused to the airframe.

[jetdriven]

The nose discs basically last forever. There's not enough weight or travel on the nose gear to wear them out. 

Edited July 7, 2017 by jetdriven

[Hank]

10 hours ago, jetdriven said:

The nose discs basically last forever. There's not enough weight or travel on the nose gear to wear them out. 

But the rubber ages and hardens through loss of volatile compounds, and it's ability to absorb shock dimishes, so they transmit shock instead. Follow the guidelines in the Maintenance Manual for your Mooney on when to replace them.

[Releew]

Thanks everyone for the input....  Got them from Aviall for $88 each.  Let the fun begin!

Rick

[N201MKTurbo]

9 hours ago, Releew said:

Thanks everyone for the input....  Got them from Aviall for $88 each.  Let the fun begin!

Rick

If you are not in the middle of annual, I would wait till the next one to change them. Taking the wheel off is 2/3 of the work.

[XXX]

Does anyone know if the Beech discs are the same as Mooney? Similar cost, but the Beech requires eight per main gear. I read on the Beech forums that they heat them before install which allows them to compress better. Did my nose gear last annual and without the tool it is quite difficult to compress the donuts.http://www.aec-inc.com/display/shock-disc-8-1.html

[PMcClure]

I bought one from Laser and they loaned me the tool for free (After return). Paul 

 

[Andy95W]

33 minutes ago, Chupacabra said:

Does anyone know if the Beech discs are the same as Mooney? Similar cost, but the Beech requires eight per main gear. I read on the Beech forums that they heat them before install which allows them to compress better. Did my nose gear last annual and without the tool it is quite difficult to compress the donuts.http://www.aec-inc.com/display/shock-disc-8-1.html

My hat's off to you for doing the nose wheel discs without the tool!

The main gear is actually pretty easy to do without the tool.  You just need full fuel tanks (and maybe one person to sit on the wing) to compress the discs enough to get the collar off and on.

I don't know if the Beech discs are the same.

[XXX]

12 hours ago, Andy95W said:

My hat's off to you for doing the nose wheel discs without the tool!

 

Thanks, yes a press and some fancy rigging with some pieces of steel to brace the truss. Next time I'll rent the tool.

[RLCarter]

13 hours ago, Chupacabra said:

Does anyone know if the Beech discs are the same as Mooney? Similar cost, but the Beech requires eight per main gear. I read on the Beech forums that they heat them before install which allows them to compress better. Did my nose gear last annual and without the tool it is quite difficult to compress the donuts.http://www.aec-inc.com/display/shock-disc-8-1.html

Looks like they are not, they have a different Part # from Lords
J11968-14    Mooney
J11968-10    Beech

[carusoam]

Warming the rubber improves its compliance... 'squishiness'

Warm rubber will be easier to squish.  

Cold rubber will be rock hard and difficult to squish...

It would be really interesting to experiment with new donut materials.  Something that doesn't permanently compress but behaves really softly.  Swap out one donut on each leg...

New pieces of rubber or types of rubber won't make crummy landings go away, will It?

abest regards,

-a-

[Hank]

4 hours ago, carusoam said:

New pieces of rubber . . . won't make crummy landings go away, will It?

No, but they do make your decent landings feel oh so much better!

[JimPointer]

On 7/12/2017 at 10:37 PM, Releew said:

Thanks everyone for the input....  Got them from Aviall for $88 each.  Let the fun begin!

Rick

can they still be purchased direct for Aviall?  

 

[M20F]

8 minutes ago, JimPointer said:

can they still be purchased direct for Aviall?  

 

Yes they can be purchased lots of places but they are all @ $220 now.  2017 is long in the rear view mirror. 

[0TreeLemur]

10 minutes ago, M20F said:

they are all @ $220 now

Wow!  The service life just jumped!

[tmo]

That, partly, explains the price change...

[LANCECASPER]

The dealer price on Aircraft Spruce is $186.96 today.