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Bent retract rod


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I once saw this on an aircraft that was misrigged.  

I can also also imagine it occurring if the gear is actuated while in the ground or not yet down and locked when landing.  More likely gross  mis-rigging.

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On 5/9/2018 at 9:08 PM, David Perry said:

Found this bent retract rod at annual. No one seems to know the cause.

That's the right main gear extend/retract/control tube.  Extreme bind on the pre-load spring, or the gear hung up while in transition coming down or the right gear took enough side load to unlock and almost collapse before righting itself.  Yikes!

 

Ron

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Could be a malfunctioning (even temporarily) or mis-adjusted down-limit switch.  The down-limit switch is what "tells" the gear motor to stop running when the gear reaches the down-and-locked position.  If the switch malfunctions, or the tab that is supposed to actuate it slips, I think the motor will keep driving the system until it encounters enough resistance to pop the gear motor breaker.  Presumably this should happen before anything bends, but I've always wondered what actually happens in practice.  Any chance you had the gear motor breaker pop at least once since you last had it opened up?

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This is my second annual. The only gear related issue I have had is a nose tire went flat while taxing. The tire came off the rim ant the nose shook badly. I wasn't going very fast but it stopped the plane almost immediately. 

Still I did not suspect damage. 

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Had that same tube bend during my last annual.  The mechanic blipped the gear up until it unlocked in order to swing it by hand to ensure the reinstalled gear door would fit.  I guess it wasn’t fully unlocked when he tried to push the right main into the gear well and the FBO had to eat the $450 part and the shop time to replace it.

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