Retractable step maintenance

[salty]

Anybody have any hints on how to get the step to come down consistently? I’ve tried a bunch of things and no matter what I do it stays at about a 50% dispatch rate. 

[steingar]

Mine was sticky and awful until my mechanic loosed up the structure around it. 

[1964-M20E]

Clean it well and apply a dry type silicone or Teflon lubricant.  I found this to be the best way.  Use some mineral spirits and spray on the tube and wipe clean let it dry and apply dry type spray lubricant.

 

 

[MBDiagMan]

Mine was painted and the thickness of the paint is enough to make it work unreliably.  I am considering removing and stripping it, and rechroming if necessary.

[tony]

clean it, clean it, clean it.  then leave it alone

[0TreeLemur]

See this thread "Lube the step" for some hints

[salty]

So, I figured I'd follow Tony's advice above, but I inspected it good in the process.....

I fiddled with it and fiddled with it trying to get it to stick and it just would not. Not even a little bit. So, I'm befuddled.... I decide to reproduce the forces applied by the vacuum boot... it sticks at the top if I do it just right.... with a bit of practice I can get it to stick at will....

It's not sticking due to friction, lack of lube, it's actually hanging up on something. So, I apply a lot of light, and finagle myself into angles that allow me to see what's going on. 

Turns out the top of the step right at the bevel was hanging up on the inside of the fuselage. A bit of mild bending and presto. 7 landings since and the step has worked perfectly each time.

[carusoam]

You know you have worked it too much...

When that long flat spring decides to turn into a long spiral of unsprung metal...

Fuzzy PP memories of days gone by...

Best regards,

-a-

[HRM]

On 9/24/2018 at 7:59 AM, salty said:

Anybody have any hints on how to get the step to come down consistently?

The retractable step was enchanted at the factory and the only way to make sure it comes down is to do a squeaker landing.

Otherwise, you will have to jump.

Oh, and what you may think is a squeaker and what the Mooney thinks is a squeaker are two different things.

Lastly, pay no attention to the comments regarding messing with it--it will punish you for that.

[cliffy]

Or tear  it out and go with the electric actuator that one of our members here has developed

I got mine. 

[HwkIFan]

What about simply disabling the step in the up position?  I rarely use it anyway and it recently decided to stop working (stays down).

[takair]

23 minutes ago, HwkIFan said:

What about simply disabling the step in the up position?  I rarely use it anyway and it recently decided to stop working (stays down).

That’s always an option, but elderly and those with bad knees may not appreciate it.  Keep in mind, if it won’t go up, you likely have a torn boot, which is a vacuum leak with unfiltered air, so you would want to plug that leak too.

[skydvrboy]

14 hours ago, takair said:

Keep in mind, if it won’t go up, you likely have a torn boot, which is a vacuum leak with unfiltered air, so you would want to plug that leak too.

Mine has a torn boot.  Any idea where a fellow could get a replacement boot for it?  If not, is there a way to repair a torn boot, even temporarily?  Maybe electrical tape inside and out?

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, skydvrboy said:

Mine has a torn boot.  Any idea where a fellow could get a replacement boot for it?  If not, is there a way to repair a torn boot, even temporarily?  Maybe electrical tape inside and out?

Like a tire patch. Find some thin rubber, scuff up the rubber, apply rubber cement and patch. 

You will either fix it or compleatly ruin it.

you could try high quality road bike patches. They are very thin, you could overlap them along the tear.

You could make your own patch out of a piece of road bike inner tube.

Have you patched many tubes? There is some skill involved.

I don’t think you will find this in 43-13.1b.....

Edited November 5, 2018 by N201MKTurbo

[skydvrboy]

51 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Have you patched many tubes?

I worked my way through high school and college at tire repair shops.  I've repaired many tubes (and ruined a few).  The tear in my boot is about 3" long, but it's worth a shot if I can't get a replacement.  My IA/A&P lets me do about anything as long as it won't have any impact on flight safety.  I'm pretty sure he'd let the step retract mechanism fall into that category.

[Andy95W]

2 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Like a tire patch. Find some thin rubber, scuff up the rubber, apply rubber cement and patch. 

You will either fix it or compleatly ruin it.

you could try high quality road bike patches. They are very thin, you could overlap them along the tear.

You could make your own patch out of a piece of road bike inner tube.

Have you patched many tubes? There is some skill involved.

I don’t think you will find this in 43-13.1b.....

I wonder how well some of the newer products would work, like Gorilla patch or Gorilla tape.

[cliffy]

I once patched a torn diaphragm in an SU carb on a Mercedes out on the road by cleaning it carefully with MEK and using 3M #33 black tape. Worked for 1500 miles until I could get another diaphragm. 

Although the  pressure differential may not have been as high as the step power. 

There's still the electric step mod by one of our members here. Might even be cheaper in the long run to put it on and be done with it as I don't see the step diaphragms being a priority for the new owners of Brittian. Used ones will now command a premium price for the folks like our own 'Grim Reaper" :-)

[carusoam]

Plug for the @takair Rob’s website...

insert web address here...

Best regards,

-a-

http://flightenhancements.com/index.html