Electric Gear Problem

[MBDiagMan]

I had one of the very best C’s on the planet with Johnson bar gear.  Loved it!  Wouldn’t have bought it if it had not had manual gear.  About a year ago I tripped and injured my shoulder.  That was the end of manual gear for me.  I got a really great F with electric gear to replace it.  I have had a problem with the gear in the past that turned out to be a bad connection on one of the switches in the belly.  I got that worked out about nine months ago and all has been well since.

I took off this morning for a short trip.  After climbing out, which seemed to be a sluggish climb out, when I set up for cruise it wouldn’t make any speed.  I turned the push to test gear up light and couldn’t get it to light.  I pressed to test and the bulb was good.  I exercised the gear switch and used a flashlight to look through the foggy plexiglass window.  Gear was doing nothing.  I put the switch in gear down position and got a light, but had lost confidence.  A friend was in the run up box and he watched as I did a fly by.  He said gear was down, so I went around and landed without incident.

I taxi’d to the hangar and once shutdown I thought to look at the breaker on the emergency extension panel.  I had not checked the one at the emergency extension panel while in flight.  I had only looked for a tripped one on the panel.   The breaker on the emergency panel was OUT.  I pushed it in and it caught.  Plane had already been powered down.

So, I think I would rather sort this out on the ground instead of in the air.  I wonder if the breaker tripping has indicated a high current draw from the actuator?  I was working under the panel changing a radio, so I suppose it is a remote possibility, but maybe I hit that breaker while under there standing on my head.

Are these actuators known for failing with an increased current draw?  Is it common to measure current draw on these?  Am I use being too picky and careful?

 

[Yetti]

The breakers are close to the spec for popping when you actuator is struggling.    The gear needs to be lubed good and the actuator needs to be lubed good.    There is no CB on the E gear spin crank on my plane.      Also breakers go bad after 4 years.   Replace those first.

[Niko182]

32 minutes ago, MBDiagMan said:

I had one of the very best C’s on the planet with Johnson bar gear.  Loved it!  Wouldn’t have bought it if it had not had manual gear.  About a year ago I tripped and injured my shoulder.  That was the end of manual gear for me.  I got a really great F with electric gear to replace it.  I have had a problem with the gear in the past that turned out to be a bad connection on one of the switches in the belly.  I got that worked out about nine months ago and all has been well since.

I took off this morning for a short trip.  After climbing out, which seemed to be a sluggish climb out, when I set up for cruise it wouldn’t make any speed.  I turned the push to test gear up light and couldn’t get it to light.  I pressed to test and the bulb was good.  I exercised the gear switch and used a flashlight to look through the foggy plexiglass window.  Gear was doing nothing.  I put the switch in gear down position and got a light, but had lost confidence.  A friend was in the run up box and he watched as I did a fly by.  He said gear was down, so I went around and landed without incident.

I taxi’d to the hangar and once shutdown I thought to look at the breaker on the emergency extension panel.  I had not checked the one at the emergency extension panel while in flight.  I had only looked for a tripped one on the panel.   The breaker on the emergency panel was OUT.  I pushed it in and it caught.  Plane had already been powered down.

So, I think I would rather sort this out on the ground instead of in the air.  I wonder if the breaker tripping has indicated a high current draw from the actuator?  I was working under the panel changing a radio, so I suppose it is a remote possibility, but maybe I hit that breaker while under there standing on my head.

Are these actuators known for failing with an increased current draw?  Is it common to measure current draw on these?  Am I use being too picky and careful?

 

I don't know if I'm reading this right, but if the emergency gear actuator is popped out, it pops the gear relay CB and doesn't allow the gear to go up. I learned this the hard way too.

[MBDiagMan]

Niko, do you mean the “emergency gear actuator” itself, or the red circuit breaker looking button at the front of the actuator?

I guess one of the worries I have is that the electric actuator is going out, drawing too much current and popping the circuit breaker. 

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks Yetti!

I will get it on jacks and go from there with lubing and testing.   I started to make a set of jacks some months ago and got side tracked.  Time to kick that project into high gear.

[EricJ]

Mine will pop if I don't get the gear up before 90kts.   Either my breaker or the motor is getting tired, I'm guessing the breaker.   Works fine otherwise, but it does make for a pretty significant pitch-up during a missed approach.    I always have to warn my CFII/safety pilot that that's going to happen.

 

[Yetti]

23 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Mine will pop if I don't get the gear up before 90kts.   Either my breaker or the motor is getting tired, I'm guessing the breaker.   Works fine otherwise, but it does make for a pretty significant pitch-up during a missed approach.    I always have to warn my CFII/safety pilot that that's going to happen.

 

When was the gear lubed last?

[EricJ]

Just now, Yetti said:

When was the gear lubed last?

Couple weeks ago at annual.   Lube or preload state doesn't matter.  It's been like that since I've owned it, and we've swung the gear on it every annual, done the lube and preload, etc., etc.   I'm pretty sure it's the forty-year-old breaker, which I plan on changing in the fall or so.

[Yetti]

4 hours ago, EricJ said:

Couple weeks ago at annual.   Lube or preload state doesn't matter.  It's been like that since I've owned it, and we've swung the gear on it every annual, done the lube and preload, etc., etc.   I'm pretty sure it's the forty-year-old breaker, which I plan on changing in the fall or so.

Good plan.  I think many people think their gear gets lubed at annual.  but has not been done in a really long time.

[cliffy]

There is a SB describing how to and when to disassemble and clean and relube the gearing inside the electric gear actuator (not just add grease). It only shows for one maker of actuator but there are 2 and they both look very close to the same. BOTH need to be cleaned and relubed in the gear head on a regular basis. Lack of this service is what causes the two gears to wear out and then you are charged with finding usable gears, if you get your gear to go back out when the actuator fails. 

Many times airplanes go decades without this service being done. Look it up in your log books :-)

Edited June 18, 2019 by cliffy
added

[Ragsf15e]

10 hours ago, cliffy said:

There is a SB describing how to and when to disassemble and clean and relube the gearing inside the electric gear actuator (not just add grease). It only shows for one maker of actuator but there are 2 and they both look very close to the same. BOTH need to be cleaned and relubed in the gear head on a regular basis. Lack of this service is what causes the two gears to wear out and then you are charged with finding usable gears, if you get your gear to go back out when the actuator fails. 

Many times airplanes go decades without this service being done. Look it up in your log books :-)

I think the gear lube is even an AD isn’t it?  

There’s also the conversion from 20/1 to 40/1 gear ratio as well.  If you have the older one your gear comes up really really fast. Wham! I guess the gears also wear/crack more. 

[cliffy]

Yes but only on one maker The other one is almost a duplicate and needs the same service even though it is not called out on the AD