jimpointer

[JimPointer]

need new lord disks.  where is best place to buy

 

[RLCarter]

Consider changing the title to something that matches the question…. You will probably need the tools to replace the disk, so I’d give LASAR a call, they rent the tools as well… I used them when I rebuilt my gear. The disks have gotten stupid in price so definitely shop around and factor in freight as it can be a shocker too

[cliffy]

Special tool only needed for the nose gear

Mains can use weight of airplane to install and compress new donuts for installation

Price of new donuts- $$$$$$$$

Make sure of the correct donut configuration on your airplane i.e. - early design or later design They can not be intermingled.   

 

 

[N201MKTurbo]

FWIW,

you can do the nose gear on a hydraulic press.

[Fly Boomer]

2 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

FWIW,

you can do the nose gear on a hydraulic press.

Is that only for vintage?  If it works for J and K, is it documented anywhere?

[gwav8or]

Anybody have a suggestion as to the best place to buy the lord landing gear discs?

[Jsno]

2 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Is that only for vintage?  If it works for J and K, is it documented anywhere?

There are blogs with photos on Mooneyspace showing how to do this.  I followed the instructions and it worked just fine.

[Shadrach]

2 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Is that only for vintage?  If it works for J and K, is it documented anywhere?

Are you under the impression that the gear design is somehow different? 

The only difference is that some of the vintage birds had the lighter, more robust and all around superior, manual gear system, fortunately the less desirable aspects of the newer birds does not carry all the way through to the suspension design.

[Fly Boomer]

3 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

Are you under the impression that the gear design is somehow different? 

I guess I was under the impression that the gear parts were not the same for all models.  That said, maybe the same tool or non-tool technique works equally well for all?

[Shadrach]

10 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

I guess I was under the impression that the gear parts were not the same for all models.  That said, maybe the same tool or non-tool technique works equally well for all?

There were some minor changes over the years.  e.g. the vintage birds originally came with a rebound dampener that was later deleted. The turn stops were improved at some point.  All of that being said, the changes were minor and the parts are interchangeable.  I installed an overhauled nose gear truss years ago. It was distinguishable from the original by the lack of a bolt boss for the rebound dampener.  Lacking a place to affix the top of the rebound strut, I removed it (per a Mooney SI). Some of the very early birds had changes to the number of discs but I believe this was simply a disc change, not a change to the gear. 

[AndreiC]

I bought new shock disks from Herber Aircraft back in early September this year. They had the best price all around, $194.08 per disk. I had to fill out the order form, and then exchange emails with them (they don't have an online ordering system) but everything worked smooth as butter. This is the price for paying with bank transfer, otherwise they add 3% for credit card. And shipping is extra, depending on how fast you want them. Still, it was significantly cheaper than Spruce, by about $25/disk if I recall correctly.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Andrei Caldararu

[Shadrach]

15 minutes ago, Andrei Caldararu said:

I bought new shock disks from Herber Aircraft back in early September this year. They had the best price all around, $194.08 per disk. I had to fill out the order form, and then exchange emails with them (they don't have an online ordering system) but everything worked smooth as butter. This is the price for paying with bank transfer, otherwise they add about 3.5% for credit card. And shipping is extra, depending on how fast you want them. Still, it was significantly cheaper than Spruce, by about $40/disk if I recall correctly.

$194??  Wow, that is nearly 100% increase in two years. They were $99 and change in 2021.  Still that is $26 less than Spruce which adds up to a savings of nearly $300 for a set.

[Vance Harral]

1 hour ago, Shadrach said:

Wow, that is nearly 100% increase in two years.

That's only the latest 100% increase.  If you go back a few more years, they were about half of the "good" price from just two years ago.

Shock disks have been on a ridiculous inflationary streak in the 20 years we've owned our Mooney, and there's no sign of it abating.  It's so bad that I now consider the landing gear suspension to be a major design deficiency in our airplanes, vastly inferior to the oleo struts found on other models.  We're at the point of needing to set aside thousands of dollars every 5-10 years just for landing gear suspension parts.  Depending on how often you fly and how weight/climate affect your particular bird, that's several bucks an hour just for the shock disks alone.  Compare that with $19.95 for a Piper oleo strut rebuild kit at Aircraft Spruce. 

[N201MKTurbo]

I think the first ones I bought were like $40

[Shadrach]

1 hour ago, Vance Harral said:

That's only the latest 100% increase.  If you go back a few more years, they were about half of the "good" price from just two years ago.

Shock disks have been on a ridiculous inflationary streak in the 20 years we've owned our Mooney, and there's no sign of it abating.  It's so bad that I now consider the landing gear suspension to be a major design deficiency in our airplanes, vastly inferior to the oleo struts found on other models.  We're at the point of needing to set aside thousands of dollars every 5-10 years just for landing gear suspension parts.  Depending on how often you fly and how weight/climate affect your particular bird, that's several bucks an hour just for the shock disks alone.  Compare that with $19.95 for a Piper oleo strut rebuild kit at Aircraft Spruce. 

When I bought mine for $99, spruce was selling them for $160.

[MikeOH]

WOW!

I wonder what the annual market size ($) is for shock disks?

And, what would be the hurdles to getting a PMA to make the things?  (I.e. what tests?) There must be all of $2 of 'rubber' in the things!

There would certainly be a decent capital investment for a mold; $10K-$20K?  Seems like that would amortize out pretty quick if the market is even a few hundred a year.  Any applications other than Mooney's that might help that amortization?

[Shadrach]

12 hours ago, MikeOH said:

WOW!

I wonder what the annual market size ($) is for shock disks?

And, what would be the hurdles to getting a PMA to make the things?  (I.e. what tests?) There must be all of $2 of 'rubber' in the things!

There would certainly be a decent capital investment for a mold; $10K-$20K?  Seems like that would amortize out pretty quick if the market is even a few hundred a year.  Any applications other than Mooney's that might help that amortization?

The cirrus nose gear discs are of identical dimensions but made with a softer compound.

[cliffy]

When changing from the old style discs to the new  not only were the discs changed but the center strut and other parts also had to be changed

I wonder what the Cirrus discs go for today Anyone know how they compare to ours?

Securing a PMA to make these involves getting approvals for your entire manufacturing system from when anything enters the back door until it goes out the front door.  The PMA is for YOUR manufacturing system (business) and traceability of everything that goes into the part and your system to assure what you make matches what the design calls for, The part design however is an entirely different entity.  You have to have an approved design or reengineer a part (DER) to have a design to make  with your PMA approval for manufacturing. 

[Shadrach]

55 minutes ago, cliffy said:

When changing from the old style discs to the new  not only were the discs changed but the center strut and other parts also had to be changed

I wonder what the Cirrus discs go for today Anyone know how they compare to ours?

Securing a PMA to make these involves getting approvals for your entire manufacturing system from when anything enters the back door until it goes out the front door.  The PMA is for YOUR manufacturing system (business) and traceability of everything that goes into the part and your system to assure what you make matches what the design calls for, The part design however is an entirely different entity.  You have to have an approved design or reengineer a part (DER) to have a design to make  with your PMA approval for manufacturing. 

Priced almost identically when I replaced mine.  I was initially shipped Cirrus discs by mistake when when I ordered discs for my plane in 2021.  My invoice says the Cirrus discs were $99.05 in June of 2021, I think the Mooney discs were a few pennies more (that invoice is in my hangar). Part number is the same except for the 2 digit suffix. 

Mooney is J11968-14

Cirrus is  J11968-10