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Landing Gear Disc Compression Tool


Steven

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42 minutes ago, Steven said:

Looking at changing out my Discs in my Main and Nose Gear.  The Maintenance Manual calls for a compression tool P/N GSE 030011 to compress the discs during installation.  Can't seem to find it.  What are you gentlemen using?

Steven, welcome to MS.

You should consider adding so information to your Avatar, like make, model, location.

A quick topic search 

 

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You don't need the tool for the mains.  With full fuel they will compress enough to get the collar on and off.  On a short body with only 54 gallons, worst case scenario is you might have to have someone sit on the wing or pull down a little on the wingtip.

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Did the mains last year, simply used weight of aircraft to compress, worked great.  The nosegear we sent to LASAR for the full rebuild they do of the unit as we had plenty of slop in steering horn and such, they also set the caster and make it all set  to drop back in. 

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Gentlemen:

Thank you everyone for the inputs and feedback.  It was very helpful and greatly appreciated.  I'm going to start with the mains  next month using the weight of the aircraft.  After that I'll look at fabricating a tool for the nose and tackle swapping those rubber disks out this summer.  

I was asked to give a little background info on my Mooney.  I've got an 84' M20K 231 with the Rocket conversion.  It was a little bit of a project when I bought it; however, I knew that two things were going to come out of it.  First, in about 2 years I'd have a sweet ride.  Second, in about 2 years I was going to be a descent Mooney mechanic.  So far I'm on schedule for both.

Thanks again.

Steve

 

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Rent or borrow the tool.  I changed my mains and with the correct tool made the job simply a matter of turning wrenches.  Not a big deal at all.  Would it be possible to use the weight of the aircraft....yes it is, but you are  also increasing your risks of damage as you will need to completely remove the jack to get enough compression on the shock to align the retainer screw at the top of the assembly.  BTW, once you have compression you cannot easily twist the shaft into position so you will need to be certain the holes are lined up before compressing which is very difficult.  If not you will be jacking the plane up and down!

The tool is worth the trouble and expense of locating.....  It provides full control over the disks compression with the aircraft remaining on jacks.

 

Rick

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On 10/03/2018 at 8:44 PM, Flymac said:

Did the mains last year, simply used weight of aircraft to compress, worked great.  The nosegear we sent to LASAR for the full rebuild they do of the unit as we had plenty of slop in steering horn and such, they also set the caster and make it all set  to drop back in. 

I'm planning on doing the same thing you did. How much for the rebuild of the nose gear, including donuts?

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  • 2 months later...

Just to add to the online body of knowledge. Disclaimer: This just describes my technique, not saying this would work for any other situations; you should take all appropriate safety precautions and follow the maintenance manual directions.

....but for entertainment value...:

Here is what I used to change out the disks on the mains w/o special tools. Note, the aircraft was jacked up per maintenance manual and had tail stand as well so 4 points stable. Full fuel load. :

I used the soft dead blow hammer (which conformed around the contact point for better grip)  to get the right position and jacked to just enough compression to get the top bolt through on the disk spindle. My old disks were so compressed that there was no static compression in the shock tower, but the new shock disks needed a squeeze and this technique allowed me to put exactly enough pressure while leaving the excess weight firmly on the wing jack, which I verified as secure/firm throughout the process. Having this jack here allowed me to have my head in the wheel well and work with the bolt while having my "adjusting" jack at hand. All the time the wing jack (out of the picture to the left) was securely in place. This same technique came in handy for the next step as well (see next photo)...

IMG_4861.JPG.4b7c2fde7cd01df6aaae6f71c8f541f8.JPG

... to get the bolts to almost perfectly align with the bushings. I did move the jack & dead blow hammer laterally on the contact point to get the right force angle...

IMG_4862.JPG.1939229397ad60bc56ae43369dba7e70.JPG

 

so that I could  and cut off the head of one of  these: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-swivel-handle-hitch-pin-6-1-4-in-usable-pin-length-s071022cts-268682?cm_mmc=feed-_-GoogleShopping-_-Product-_-268682&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxrrxr8aP2wIVSeDICh2VuQ2VEAQYCCABEgK4QfD_BwE  to make the alignment pin in the following photo:

IMG_4863.JPG.a12aaf209ab2494a80e4f0589687c63c.JPG

To tap through and get exact alignment which I then used the bolt to tap through & push out the alignment pin. 

For the nose gear, I had to take the upper truss out due to being bent by an FBO tug and replace it anyway, so I used a cheap harbor freight press  https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/81518/10002/-1?CAWELAID=230006180039279655&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=39714413703&CATCI=pla-291420598510&CATARGETID=230006180039220963&cadevice=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4aLioceP2wIVFSOBCh2yaQDQEAQYASABEgJxRvD_BwEto compress the disks onto the new replacement truss while it was out of the aircraft.

 

 

 

 

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Curious what the disks ran you.

I have a friend who always seems to find interesting tools in the dumpster at the airport. I went to borrow the gear rigging tool from him (has 2 he found in the dumpster) for annual and said "Hey if you ever find the tool to do the Mooney disk change in a dumpster let me know". Be pulled out a bucket from under his workbench and said "oh, this?!". Damn, this guy has all the luck. Also a great IA.

 

-Robert

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  • 5 months later...

I would recommend calling an Lasar in Oregon and they can make sure you're getting a tool that will work well  (800) 954-5619.  They also rent their set of tools.  It'll run you about $50 or so.  

WRT the gear pucks, changing them out is a good idea.  Mine are due, I'm just waiting for a long down period to address them.  Lasar has a lead time for the pucks.  If you have a short time line you can can get them quicker through Spruce; however, if you can wait I'd recommend going with Lasar.  Their good people and can use the support of the Mooney community.

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6 minutes ago, Steven said:

I would recommend calling an Lasar in Oregon and they can make sure you're getting a tool that will work well  (800) 954-5619.  They also rent their set of tools.  It'll run you about $50 or so.  

WRT the gear pucks, changing them out is a good idea.  Mine are due, I'm just waiting for a long down period to address them.  Lasar has a lead time for the pucks.  If you have a short time line you can can get them quicker through Spruce; however, if you can wait I'd recommend going with Lasar.  Their good people and can use the support of the Mooney community.

Yea, but they're not in Oregon, even if everyone in California doesn't know there's anything north of San Francisco.

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13 minutes ago, carusoam said:

David,

Does this help?

http://www.gdsaero.com/vintage-airworks/

 

This is the website of things available from GDS/ @Sabremech...

Best regards,

-a-

Hi Anthony, 

Those are my gear rigging tools. The question was posted looking for a picture of the disc compression tools. I had a shock disc compression tool that I made and I recently shipped it to AGL Aviation for them to use. I found that I don’t want to be in the tool rental business. 

Thanks,

David

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@ Sabremech, thanks for the link. Those are for rigging the landing gear pre-load, correct? I was looking for what was used to change out the landing gear disks. The photos in the above links show one persons method. I suppose I need to back up a few steps and make/buy what is needed to safely jack up the airplane (I knew I should have taken a welding class in HS!).

 

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On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 2:17 PM, outermarker said:

What do the compression tools look like? I should start thinking about a change.

Have a look on Ebay, seems there's a set for sale.

I'm not sure how easy are to use those. few years ago I've rented a hydraulic tool from business now closed (Hangar tool place or such) and were very good. Extremely easy to replace that even my IA was impressed.

Good luck

 

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