Removing the Undercarriage.

[Denis Mexted]

My mate didn't like the gear retraction spring removal tool, and went down the path of inserting penny washers in the spring instead. It worked brilliantly. There really was very little drama in removing the undercarriage. 

[Denis Mexted]

A bit of wear in these rear pivot blocks. Not ridiculous, but noticeable. There are no bushings in this block, so I assume the block gets replaced. 

Yes I will ring Lasar in the next few days and talk through this.

 

Y

[Denis Mexted]

65MooneyPilot

Yes there was up and down movement. I filmed it, maybe 1/4" but no back and forth nor sideways. 

Can the up and down be shimmed?

[Fly Boomer]

3 hours ago, Denis Mexted said:

Well after all that debate on how whether to pull down by the tail or lift at the front I did both. 

That's a nice setup.  I'm looking for a cheap A-frame.  For the lateral stability, I'm thinking about three anchor points in the floor with rigid links between the tail tie-down and the anchor points in the floor.

[Denis Mexted]

And that was an undercarriage leg. LH

A few bushings and such to replace, but really it's a solid and simple leg.

.

[Denis Mexted]

Has anyone been down the road of having one of these rebuilt?

I may get away with blasting and painting, but only just.

 

.

[carusoam]

12 minutes ago, Denis Mexted said:

Has anyone been down the road of having one of these rebuilt?

I may get away with blasting and painting, but only just.

 

.

These tubes are often damaged by rust…

Water that doesn’t get out the drain on some legs…

The tubes can get really thin under this condition…

 

Not sure if tube drains came into style at some point… or what was keeping the water in…

 

For pre-flown Mooney parts… find @Alan Fox

Best regards,

-a-

[Denis Mexted]

 For the lateral stability, I'm thinking about three anchor points in the floor with rigid links between the tail tie-down and the anchor points in the floor.

Fly Boomer : I'd try the 2 Dynabolt method. I once had a Bonanza on Jacks for a year and this worked well. Having said that, I realise there is not a lot of resistance for/aft. I hate being up on jacks, but the job still needs to be done. 

Some more pics. 

The ear of the Nose Gear Truss. The notes that came with the aircraft said it had a nose gear shimmy. 

 

[Denis Mexted]

This part is quite pitted. The two main gear Link Assemblies are for the bin. 

[Denis Mexted]

While on the topic of Undercarriage, could someone explain the change from 20:1 to 40:1 gearing ratios to me. It's a bit late now, but I guess winding the gear down via the emergency extension and counting the turns would reveal which I have. 

[Denis Mexted]

The red dot I believe is telling me to put it abeam the tube valve. 

What are all the silver dots telling me?

Progress has slowed a bit. Particularly on the gear. I'm waiting on bits from the States. I don't want to paint until I can colour match with the new nose gear truss. 

 

[Fly Boomer]

4 hours ago, Denis Mexted said:

The red dot I believe is telling me to put it abeam the tube valve. 

What are all the silver dots telling me?

I was curious too, but a search did not turn up much.  This from the Goodyear manual (bold is mine):

• Use the correct tire and tube for the wheel assembly.
• Inspect the tube, looking for cuts or cracks.
• Inspect the inside of the tire, and remove stickers.
• Clean the bead base with a cloth dampened with denatured alcohol. Allow bead seat area to dry.
• Clean inside of tire, then lubricate lightly with talc.
• Inflate tube to slightly round, and insert in tire.
• Align valve on tube with red balance dot on tire.
• When mounting tire and tube on wheel, be sure that wheel bolts are torqued to wheel manufacturer’s instructions
before inflating.
• Inflate tire in a safety cage to rated pressure using dry nitrogen or shop air; comply with FAR 25.733.
• Deflate assembly to equalize stretch.
• Re-inflate to rated pressure.
• After 12 hour stretch period, re-inflate to rated inflation pressure.

[EricJ]

5 hours ago, Denis Mexted said:

The red dot I believe is telling me to put it abeam the tube valve. 

What are all the silver dots telling me?

Progress has slowed a bit. Particularly on the gear. I'm waiting on bits from the States. I don't want to paint until I can colour match with the new nose gear truss. 

 

They look symmetric.   I'd guess they're just marks for an automated handling system.   Goodyear publishes an aviation tire manual.   I don't think I have the latest, but if it doesn't say anything about it then it's not anything for the user.

 

[Sabremech]

5 hours ago, Denis Mexted said:

The red dot I believe is telling me to put it abeam the tube valve. 

What are all the silver dots telling me?

Progress has slowed a bit. Particularly on the gear. I'm waiting on bits from the States. I don't want to paint until I can colour match with the new nose gear truss. 

 

I believe the white dots signify that it is a tubed tire where green dots signify it is tubeless. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Sabremech

[Denis Mexted]

No it's not green. I forgot to take one of the finished white. Slowly coming along. Some very minor pitting on one arm of both main gear legs when bead blasted. Apart from the link assemblies that the rubber donuts sit on, are there any other known points of issues on the Mooney gear legs? 

[Denis Mexted]

Can I ask a question about bushes?

I was going to ream the holes where primer and paint would have filled, and grease the bushes and reinsert. 

A friend who does a bit of engineering on antique tractors, thought the bushes should be tight and pressed in.

Should the bushes be free to rotate or pressed in tight?

[Kelpro999]

43 minutes ago, Denis Mexted said:

Can I ask a question about bushes?

I was going to ream the holes where primer and paint would have filled, and grease the bushes and reinsert. 

A friend who does a bit of engineering on antique tractors, thought the bushes should be tight and pressed in.

Should the bushes be free to rotate or pressed in tight?

While the paint is somewhat soft you can use a bearing scraper to remove it. The bushing/spacers should rotate with grease and fit solidly to the fork ears and bolts. Sometimes paint buildup on the edges of the bearing bores will cause binding when bolts are tightened, also paint on the mounting ears may cause same binding.

[A64Pilot]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:13 PM, Denis Mexted said:

This part is quite pitted. The two main gear Link Assemblies are for the bin. 

Ever heard of a “speed sleeve” It’s for a crankshaft that the oil seal had worn a groove in it, a speed sleeve is a very thin very hard sleeve that is slid onto the crankshaft and as it’s much harder metal than the crank it doesn’t wear.

https://www.skf.com/us/products/industrial-seals/power-transmission-seals/wear-sleeves/skf-speedi-sleeve

If that parts is unavailable I think you could turn it down and put a very thin sleeve on it.

Oh and the white dots are “awl” vents, I think it’s to release trapped air in the manufacturing process. Sometimes they are green, maybe for tubeless?

https://www.dunlopaircrafttyres.co.uk/technical/red-blobs-and-green-spots/

[Denis Mexted]

Reamed to perfection to take the new bushing from Lasar. 
An adjustable reamer and a reaming guide was used. (a friends skill and tools unfortunately. While I’ve used small adjustable reamers before this was on another level) 

Slowly moving forward.

[RoundTwo]

I’m following your project for personal reasons. 

Keep up the quality documentation.

[N201MKTurbo]

2 hours ago, Denis Mexted said:

Reamed to perfection to take the new bushing from Lasar. 
An adjustable reamer and a reaming guide was used. (a friends skill and tools unfortunately. While I’ve used small adjustable reamers before this was on another level) 

Slowly moving forward.

I've found it is easier to put the reamer in a vice and rotate the trunnion. 

[Denis Mexted]

Great tip thanks. That maybe very handy for the short bushes, say in the Link Assemblies pictured above. 

[Denis Mexted]

A quick post on this retracting link

I was going to CAD plate them and in cleaning them up noticed the grease nipple holes (zerk for you guys) were different looking at the pics below. Umm. I didn't realise they were different. I wondered whether they were L/R handed. 

The guess from the knowledge source was the one drilled directly into the bushing was old stock and the position changed due to cracking on the drill hole. The knowledge source was going back to Mooney to confirm. 

I notice they were plated in an unknown silver product. Anyone know what it was? Could even be paint though I doubt it. 

 

. 

[N201MKTurbo]

It is probably silver cadmium or nickel. It is probably cad, nickel is usually shinier.

 

[Denis Mexted]

Hi guys.

Service Bulletin M20-212 calls for bolts;

 

NAS 1306-21H or NAS 1306-20H as required, arrow A.

Spruce don't have these. Nor can the local FBO who deals with Avail and various others.

 

Any ideas on where to source? 

 

Parts are hard to get. While I've got many things of Dan at Lasar, I think the poor bloke is having trouble sourcing stuff due to supply chain issues. My mate tells me a Conquest in Northern Australia has been flying for the last six months below 10,000 ft due nil pressurisation parts. 

 

Thanks,

Denis.