Gear Door Crack

[VetRepp]

Any Thoughts?

I have an Ovation 2006, (M20R),

Just noticed a crack on the RH - Middle gear door (the inner one of the 2  attached to the landing gear)

No signs of trauma - no scratches, - other parts OK. It seems like a weird piece to crack.

1) Any thoughts on why?

2) Any thing else I should be sure to look for?

3) Best place to find a replacement, Salvage?, MSC?

 

Thanks in advance

Roger

[VetRepp]

Aluminum, Part #550089-9508

Thanks

[VetRepp]

Needs to be replaced (Not repairable) per my A&P

(who I trust  -he always looks for most economical alternatives)

Thanks

[laytonl]

Where is the crack?  Need a photo.  Lee

[Mooneymuscle56m]

You are lucky, Mooney just soaked me $1900 for the outer on an acclaim. 

Hinge broke, peeled back, made a mess.  

 

 

[thinwing]

Any A and P could fabricate a doubler for that ,what does the other side look like?What caused the dent?

[Mooneymuscle56m]

19 hours ago, thinwing said:

Any A and P could fabricate a doubler for that ,what does the other side look like?What caused the dent?

I was in a speedy decent and I don’t think it was completely closed.  My best guess was it built a little pressure in the gear well and the door fluttered until the hinge gave way.  From the corrosion/rust at the break, I’d say it had fatigued over a few years. 

[glenn reynolds]

I had LASAR fix my ovation gear door same issue. Cost about $400 if I remember right. Paint was included. Took two weeks I took the door off the other side so the plane was symmetrical and kept flying while the repairs were done. 

[amillet]

What I thought might be a no sqwawk annual turned up this  cracked gear door. When I cleaned the belly last about a month ago I noticed a small crack in the door about a half inch long. Progressed rapidly.  Greg ( Advanced Aircraft at KTTD) commented:

On the gear door.  Mooney has no stock and they are extremely slow on parts fabrication now.  Shall I try to repair this door and we can order a new one and when it shows up, make arrangements to have it installed?

[carusoam]

Fix it to fly it...

Order new from the factory for long term ownership goals...

Or see if Alan, Jerry, or Shery have one...

Best regards,

-a-

[EricJ]

I think I'd repair it and fly it.   Maybe if you find a better used door sometime replace it or save it as a spare.

 

[A64Pilot]

Having flown a Johnson Bar Mooney once or twice, I know how much harder it is to move the gear with airspeed. So with my electric gear J model, I won’t extend my gear until I’m just inside of the white arc, and of course retract them well inside of the white arc.

‘Anytime you find a sheet metal crack, stop drill it immediately, or it can spread like a crack in a car windshield can. Ideally you should ream the stop drilled hole to make is smooth, any defect is in effect another crack

[Ethan]

I had an inner gear door crack on my Mooney 231. I took both off and sent the damaged one to Don Maxwell in Tx to fix. He did a great job.

[PT20J]

19 minutes ago, Ethan said:

I had an inner gear door crack on my Mooney 231. I took both off and sent the damaged one to Don Maxwell in Tx to fix. He did a great job.

I hear Don has has a really good sheet metal guy. Someone who is good at it can fix anything. I once found a crack on the front lip of the cowling on a Beaver floatplane during morning preflight. I took it to the maintenance hangar and was looking forward to a day off. But it only took about an hour to fix it including bending a piece of tubing to replace the damaged part, machining a fitting, fabricating a patch with compound curves and riveting it in place. 

Skip

[carusoam]

Great Pirep, for DMax and sheet metal work!

Ethan, Thanks for sharing it...

Best regards,

-a-