Buying a FL based Mooney

[Freddb34]

Good afternoon,

First time posting on this space as I'm looking at my first Mooney.  It's a C model based on coastal FL airport and looking for some advice.  The plane is coming up on annual and there were three discrepancies noted on the last one;  corrosion on something called a "dogbone" (???) in the left main wheel well, a flap bracket "block" needing repair and one other item which I felt was fairly minor.  

I know very little about Mooney's as I've had two Pipers before.   I'm attaching two pics the owner sent me denoting the two parts but was hoping someone here could educate me as to whether these are really expensive fixes or not (the owner claims they would cost about $4000 in total to repair).  

Any help would be appreciated.

[Fly Boomer]

First, welcome to MooneySpace!  Second there is an active topic on corrosion here:

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/44615-look-what-we-found-under-the-window…corrosion/

 

[Fly Boomer]

1 hour ago, Freddb34 said:

Any help would be appreciated.

See my first response above.  After that, here are some more topics on MooneySpace:

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/19403-corrosion-repair/

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/30502-tks-corrosion-question/

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/39396-mooney-corrosion-relative-to-other-makes-and-models/

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/22110-corrosion-inspection/

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/34198-spar-corrosion/
 

[Fly Boomer]

1 hour ago, Freddb34 said:

 I'm attaching two pics the owner sent me denoting the two parts but was hoping someone here could educate me as to whether these are really expensive fixes or not (the owner claims they would cost about $4000 in total to repair).  

See previous posts above.  I'm sure some mechanics will weigh in but, after looking at your pictures, I would just comment that, when talking Mooney, the real corrosion danger is in places not readily apparent.  A Mooney specialist should do a pre-buy specifically looking for corrosion in the chrome-moly tubing structure, the wing spar, and other places.  Don't gloss over this -- corrosion can send an otherwise attractive Mooney to the salvage yard.

[carusoam]

Assessing corrosion requires skill…

pics aren’t able to do that.

PPIs are for the protection of your wallet… and even they are not a guarantee…

 

1) Outdoors and Florida result in many long discussions about corrosion… expect feelings to be hurt if you write without thought and detail…

2) there are two types of corrosion… surface, and inter-granular….

3) Surface corrosion is often an easy to clean, fix… when caught early…

4) inter-granular is the kind of corrosion that is eating parts, while you wait…

5) Each metal will have their characteristics for corrosion issues…

6) a well cared for machine, gets it’s corrosion issues fixed at annual or sooner…

7) In some cases… corrosion can accelerate and eat into a part in under a year… hence the reason for the ANNUAL.

8) It is highly recommended to have the PPI be done by a Mooney specific mechanic… and be independent of the current owner…

9) Bubbling paint is a terrible sign… of surface corrosion that is spreading quickly… not sure why any owner wouldn’t start fixing this before it spreads further…

10) before having a PPI done… be sure to discuss with the seller who is paying for the fixes… it may be better to negotiate a price reduction, and take the plane to your mechanic for the fixes….

Corrosion isn’t a Mooney specific issue… metal objects prefer to sleep indoors… even when they are nicely painted… especially in the heat of the sun that some places see….

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-