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Flew airplane after an annual, pedals are "off"


Austintatious

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19 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

So who repairs these now, I’ve heard LASAR is no longer and that the part has to be heat treated

Check with Paul at Acorn Welding in Edmonton.  They do lots of weird and wonderful stuff.

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53 minutes ago, Austintatious said:

I am in the market so contact me if you want to potentially work a deal.

 

Lasar said mine is not repairable.  So basically they cannot or will not help.  They refereed me to the factory that has them in stock for 2500.00 ish.

Well that’s awesome that the factory has them.  I mean it’s obviously expensive, but a used one is gonna have to be in pretty good condition to want that over new… you don’t want to go through this again anytime soon…

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43 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

Well that’s awesome that the factory has them.  I mean it’s obviously expensive, but a used one is gonna have to be in pretty good condition to want that over new… you don’t want to go through this again anytime soon…

yea, that is what I am thinking as well.  2500.00 in the grand scheme of things isnt all that bad... this is why we chip into the kitty.

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3 hours ago, Austintatious said:

I am in the market so contact me if you want to potentially work a deal.

 

Lasar said mine is not repairable.  So basically they cannot or will not help.  They refereed me to the factory that has them in stock for 2500.00 ish.

I checked a few days ago, and they showed none on hand.  Glad they got some new inventory.

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On 10/31/2022 at 3:21 PM, Austintatious said:

yea, that is what I am thinking as well.  2500.00 in the grand scheme of things isnt all that bad... this is why we chip into the kitty.

I too would go for a new non fatigued one for that price. I’ve been waiting for months for a tiny little $1,000 no back spring, $2,500 for a truss is reasonable

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I have the new part in hand... but as usual, finding anyone to do the work is proving challenging.  I have a call in to Broadies at KFTW and am waiting to hear back... If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that is capable of swapping this (a compression tool is required) I would love the contact info.

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24 minutes ago, Austintatious said:

I have the new part in hand... but as usual, finding anyone to do the work is proving challenging.  I have a call in to Broadies at KFTW and am waiting to hear back... If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that is capable of swapping this (a compression tool is required) I would love the contact info.

Texas is Mooney country! I expected there to be a surfeit of qualified, experienced A&Ps. My nearest one is almost a Mooney hour away, Joey Cole at KDNN, one state east and to the north.

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27 minutes ago, Austintatious said:

I have the new part in hand... but as usual, finding anyone to do the work is proving challenging.  I have a call in to Broadies at KFTW and am waiting to hear back... If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that is capable of swapping this (a compression tool is required) I would love the contact info.

Wow, new truss that fast is awesome!  Hope it’s not too hard to find someone to do it.  I imagine the airplane can’t be moved…

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1 hour ago, Austintatious said:

I have the new part in hand... but as usual, finding anyone to do the work is proving challenging.  I have a call in to Broadies at KFTW and am waiting to hear back... If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that is capable of swapping this (a compression tool is required) I would love the contact info.

Sheesh, this is not super challenging job in the whole scheme of things. It may require a creative solution to compress the discs, but the tool is available from Lasar if the shop insists on using one.  More importantly, the nature of the repair means the discs can be swapped while the truss is off of the airplane which opens up many easy alternatives in terms of compressing. I swapped ours in my hangar under supervision. I don't remember how long it took but it certainly was not an all day job maybe 6hrs or so. I am surprised you cannot find anyone willing to do this. 

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1 minute ago, Shadrach said:

Sheesh, this is not super challenging job in the whole scheme of things. It may require a creative solution to compress the discs, but the tool is available from Lasar if the shop insists on using one.  More importantly, the nature of the repair means the discs can be swapped while the truss is off of the airplane which opens up many easy alternatives in terms of compressing. I swapped ours in my hangar under supervision. I don't remember how long it took but it certainly was not an all day job maybe 6hrs or so. I am surprised you cannot find anyone willing to do this. 

Tell me about it... never thought it would be so hard to find someone to take $100.00 an hour.  It has been the bane of my aircraft ownership experience.

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5 hours ago, Austintatious said:

I have the new part in hand... but as usual, finding anyone to do the work is proving challenging.  I have a call in to Broadies at KFTW and am waiting to hear back... If anyone knows anyone in the DFW area that is capable of swapping this (a compression tool is required) I would love the contact info.

With the part separated from the airplane I think you can just use a press to put the pucks in.   Then put the assembly back in the airplane with the pucks.   

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47 minutes ago, Mcstealth said:

Wonder if they dropped her off the jacks during annual?

For that to happen without severe wing damage is unlikely, plus even if it was dropped a whole foot, that’s nothing compared to some landings, and who jacks one a whole foot?

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I don't know how it happened... I noticed in the picture I posted there seems to be a screw head that looks like is right on the crack... the new part does not have this screw head.

Until I get the part off and can examine it closely, I don't know what may have happened and don't want to speculate yet.  All I know is that my partner in the airplane flew it just before this problem was found... He is not an amateur nor one to make a hard landings, nor one to not notice the effect I noticed nor one to lie about it if he had, I trust him explicitly.

 

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Don't think that's the place that gets dinged from over steering.

Looks to possibly be a corrosion induced.  Pitting from corrosion, particularly near a weld like that,  can be a point of weakness.   Its been 'open' for a while - no telling how how much corrosion is on the inside of the tube.

$2500 is cheap for a new part.  I wonder what a bent nose strut for a C182 costs these days.

 

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9 hours ago, Austintatious said:

I don't know how it happened... I noticed in the picture I posted there seems to be a screw head that looks like is right on the crack... the new part does not have this screw head.

Until I get the part off and can examine it closely, I don't know what may have happened and don't want to speculate yet.  All I know is that my partner in the airplane flew it just before this problem was found... He is not an amateur nor one to make a hard landings, nor one to not notice the effect I noticed nor one to lie about it if he had, I trust him explicitly.

 

I don’t think it’s a screw, more likely a drive rivet installed in the vent hole drilled in the tube before welding.  The hole could be the start of the crack though.

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Closeup of the break….

Where is our MS metallurgist…?

That fastener head looks to be in an interesting location to the damage…. Might be at the initiation point…

Breaks come in two steps….

1) Crack initiation…

2) Crack propagation….

The event that started this may have happened far in the past….

The follow up where the crack opens wide, may have not been a really interesting event to even notice…

More info may become available if…. This part gets cleaned up and OH’d…. Find the initiation point… see if there are more.

 

Yikes, that is a big crack….

PP thoughts only, not a metallurgist…

Best regards,

-a-

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My theory is that the crack started a long time ago and has been missed during several annuals. The nature of the location is that it’s covered in crud and grime. Given there were no anomalies in the rudder pedal before, I’m betting that the  crack was probably not open until a recent event twisted the truss.  It looks like if the tube were rotated an eighth of an inch the fracture lines would match up. I like to thoroughly clean the gear with pressurized mineral spirits at annual to ensure all tubes and welds are visible. It definitely should’ve been caught, but I can see how it was missed.

As much of a PITA as it is to remedy the situation, in truth, the aviation gods smiled upon you. This could have made for a $40k+ $hitshow.
 

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