Best price for shock disks?

[Shadrach]

12 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I wonder which has gone up more in the last two years? The price of a shock disk or a #1 meal at McDonald's?

Spruce price is up 60% since I was shopping in 2021 ($165). However, I was able to find them for <$100 each from a Lord distributor.  I know it’s a small market but replacing rubber discs should not be a $3k affair. Cirrus uses the same size mold with a softer compound. 

[PT20J]

37 minutes ago, PT20J said:

But check the resale value of your airplane - it’s gone up a lot, too!

Which, of course, makes my insurance more expensive each year. Since I purchased my M20J in 2018, I’ve put a $45K factory rebuilt engine in it and an $85K Garmin panel, and the current resale value has increased enough to cover 90% of the cost of the upgrades.

Richard  Collins used to write that the cost of maintaining a used airplane was more related to the purchase price of a new airplane than the cost of the used airplane. 

There is a real shortage of maintainers and labor rates have been increasing. It now costs nearly as much to get someone to work on my airplane as my car.

Skip

[Shadrach]

2 hours ago, philiplane said:

They've gone up another $20 since December.

What’s the service life of the shock discs on a Cirrus?

[Guest]

4 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

I leaned nothing from Skip’s post that I didn’t know already.  

Here’s the thing, Clarence.  My IA, who is a wonderful friend of mine of over 20 years, owns a Comanche 180.  I own a M20C and we get along famously, each complimenting the other’s airplane and pointing out its superior design features and performance capabilities to our own.  In fact, almost all of the aircraft owners of disparate types I know behave among each other this way.  Your approach, time and time again, here on MooneySpace of all places, is exactly the opposite.  

I guess going forward I’ll have to add emojis so you’ll know when I’m kidding and when I’m not.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, PT20J said:

There is a real shortage of maintainers and labor rates have been increasing. It now costs nearly as much to get someone to work on my airplane as my car.

Skip

Sadly we maintainers have been the authors of our own fate by under valuing our skills and services.  That seems to be changing now.

[wombat]

I think a certified aircraft mechanic should be worth no less than 10X unskilled labor, and that's for the newest A&P. 'Cmon... the training requirements are higher than that for airline pilots.  But a mechanic can put thousands of people at risk, but a pilot can only get a few hundred at once.... 

 

While I don't *WANT* to pay tons of money for the labor on my aircraft, but considering the training requirements, I think it's fair.    

 

I suspect we'll probably see an increase in in-shop A&P training where the non-A&P's earn $15 to $35 an hour (Adjusted for inflation) and the actual A&Ps earn $150+ an hour

 

At least that's what I hope happens, as soon as I finish A&P School.  hahahahah

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, wombat said:

I think a certified aircraft mechanic should be worth no less than 10X unskilled labor, and that's for the newest A&P. 'Cmon... the training requirements are higher than that for airline pilots.  But a mechanic can put thousands of people at risk, but a pilot can only get a few hundred at once.... 

 

While I don't *WANT* to pay tons of money for the labor on my aircraft, but considering the training requirements, I think it's fair.    

 

I suspect we'll probably see an increase in in-shop A&P training where the non-A&P's earn $15 to $35 an hour (Adjusted for inflation) and the actual A&Ps earn $150+ an hour

 

At least that's what I hope happens, as soon as I finish A&P School.  hahahahah

When the wage rate gets to $150 per hour I may consider moving south.

[philiplane]

7 hours ago, Shadrach said:

What’s the service life of the shock discs on a Cirrus?

8 to 10 years before they start cracking from engine heat. Less on turbo models, maybe 5-6 years.

[philiplane]

1 hour ago, M20Doc said:

When the wage rate gets to $150 per hour I may consider moving south.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/may/pilot/savvy-maintenance-mechanic-crisis

[glbtrottr]

Not likely…

Most avionics shops promise apprentices all sorts of wonderful benefits upon hiring. No A&P required. I remember reading the thread recently where one of our members seems to have purchased a stolen garmin…shops like that charge minimum wage and bill. $145 an hour to the customer…nice, eh?

[ohdub]

1 hour ago, M20Doc said:

When the wage rate gets to $150 per hour I may consider moving south.

Don't do that, we need you here (in Ontario)! 

[PT20J]

2 hours ago, M20Doc said:

When the wage rate gets to $150 per hour I may consider moving south.

Canadian or US dollars?

[Shadrach]

11 minutes ago, 1980Mooney said:

 

Cirrus discontinued the use of a shock disc on the nose gear in 2010 midway through the SR22 G3 production and on SR20.  They went to an oleo strut with superior dampening - reduces the chances of bouncing on nose gear.  

https://baspartsales.com/0346-800-cirrus-sr20-jihlavan-nose-gear-pneumatic-shock-absorber/

https://byerlyparts.com/products/27057-002-oleo-strut

There are lots of Cirrus flying with shock discs. It’s a data point of interest.

[mike_elliott]

At the last few Mooney Summits, you could use the "name  your own price tool" and bid on a complete set of Lords shock disc's. If your tool was properly calibrated, you would have won them, right Alan?

 

[BaldEagle]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:46 PM, StevenL757 said:

Honestly (and I'm not sure what taxes you'd pay), Spruce has the best pricing I've seen.  I can't even get close to this with my Aviall account, so I'm relegated to Spruce until someone comes along and beats their pricing.

I just got mine done.  Chief was slightly cheaper than Spruce when I was shopping a few weeks ago so I went that route, but including tax, shipping, it was still $2k for 11 of these buggers ($1955 to be precise).  And about 1.4 AMU labor.  They were nearly half that price 3 years ago when I was going to get this done… blaming myself for procrastinating….

[LANCECASPER]

7 hours ago, BaldEagle said:

I just got mine done.  Chief was slightly cheaper than Spruce when I was shopping a few weeks ago so I went that route, but including tax, shipping, it was still $2k for 11 of these buggers ($1955 to be precise).  And about 1.4 AMU labor.  They were nearly half that price 3 years ago when I was going to get this done… blaming myself for procrastinating….

WOW! I've had shock discs replaced on almost every Mooney I've owned (6 out of 7).
Last time I had it done was November 2021 on the current one I own by a Mooney Service Center. My labor invoice was for $495, and that also included bleeding the brakes and shop supplies. If the shop does it all the time they can do it in a few hours. If it really is taking them 10-14 hours (depending on what their shop rate was), they don't do this very often. No doubt with labor increases if it was done now the shop rate would be higher, but the hours shouldn't be.

They had a mechanic and a helper working on it part of the time. They started around 10 AM and were done by 3 PM including bleeding the brakes and a lunch break in there. That's the most in labor I've ever paid for changing shock discs, but definitely not the most I've ever been quoted. I always get a quote on work before-hand, but I Understand that sometimes things get complicated and it ends uop being more, but that way I don't end up with any big surprises.

[BaldEagle]

4 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

WOW! I've had shock discs replaced on almost every Mooney I've owned (6 out of 7).
Last time I had it done was November 2021 on the current one I own by a Mooney Service Center. My labor invoice was for $495, and that also included bleeding the brakes and shop supplies. If the shop does it all the time they can do it in a few hours. If it really is taking them 10-14 hours (depending on what their shop rate was), they don't do this very often. No doubt with labor increases if it was done now the shop rate would be higher, but the hours shouldn't be.

They had a mechanic and a helper working on it part of the time. They started around 10 AM and were done by 3 PM including bleeding the brakes and a lunch break in there. That's the most in labor I've ever paid for changing shock discs, but definitely not the most I've ever been quoted. I always get a quote on work before-hand, but I Understand that sometimes things get complicated and it ends uop being more, but that way I don't end up with any big surprises.

Shop rate is 50% higher where I’m at… 2.75 hours to do the nose gear pucks, but there was some additional labor cleaning up rust, replacing a bolt when doing the main gear pucks, and a couple of other minor items which padded the hours and price came in pretty much where I expected.  I guess we’re just used to paying way too much for everything in this corner of the country.

[Shadrach]

I have posted the contact info for Herber Aircraft on this forum multiple times. I bought a complete set of discs from them for a little over $1100 shipped. That was in mid 2021. I’m sure they’ve gone up. They were still $65 less than Spruce at the time. As far as I know, no one else has bothered to order from Herber. 

[Larry]

9 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

I have posted the contact info for Herber Aircraft on this forum multiple times. I bought a complete set of discs from them for a little over $1100 shipped. That was in mid 2021. I’m sure they’ve gone up. They were still $65 less than Spruce at the time. As far as I know, no one else has bothered to order from Herber. 

Herber quoted me 165 last week, 1815 plus tax and shipping.

[Larry]

12 hours ago, BaldEagle said:

I just got mine done.  Chief was slightly cheaper than Spruce when I was shopping a few weeks ago so I went that route, but including tax, shipping, it was still $2k for 11 of these buggers ($1955 to be precise).  And about 1.4 AMU labor.  They were nearly half that price 3 years ago when I was going to get this done… blaming myself for procrastinating….

How did you get this price from Chief, they're showing 219.95 on their w/s now.

[Ragsf15e]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:39 PM, M20Doc said:

When the wage rate gets to $150 per hour I may consider moving south.

Wage rate up to $150 (down here) or temp down to -10c up there?

[Fly Boomer]

3 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

Wage rate up to $150 (down here) or temp down to -10c up there?

But he has a nice hangar with a heated floor.

[Hank]

16 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

Wage rate up to $150 (down here) or temp down to -10c up there?

That's a nice spring morning on Clarence's side of the border!

Down here in Sweet Home, it kills plants even in January. 

[Shadrach]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

Herber quoted me 165 last week, 1815 plus tax and shipping.

Have you seen them for less anywhere else? That’s what Spruce was selling them for back when I bought mine from Herber for under $100.

[BaldEagle]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

How did you get this price from Chief, they're showing 219.95 on their w/s now.

I got them for 165 each from Chief when I ordered them in February.  That’s a pretty dramatic price increase.  Aviation economics is bizarre.