Rochester wing fuel gauge

[Patrick Horan]

Lately Mooney have been such a let down.

I desperately need a wing fuel gauge for my M20M (the gauge flew off the plane). I went through all the service centers and I went through some salvage yards, nothing. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I see BAS parts has the whole fuel unit but I only need the dial.

[ArtVandelay]

See:

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/40646-wing-fuel-dial/

Wing gauges, back springs, landing gear pucks…apparently Mooney doesn’t want to make them yet many owners need them.

[Patrick Horan]

4 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

See:

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/40646-wing-fuel-dial/

Wing gauges, back springs, landing gear pucks…apparently Mooney doesn’t want to make them yet many owners need them.

It's really sad that Mooney just can't move forward. They said they are trying to produce parts. But time and time again, I see more people having trouble securing parts. What parts are Mooney ACTUALLY making

[LANCECASPER]

17 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

See:

https://mooneyspace.com/topic/40646-wing-fuel-dial/

Wing gauges, back springs, landing gear pucks…apparently Mooney doesn’t want to make them yet many owners need them.

Mooney has never manufactured any of those parts. Rochester makes the wing gauges, Eaton (or Plessey) makes the no-back springs, Lord makes the shock discs (Aircraft Spruce, one of many vendors, is showing 540 in stock today around the country). Mooney still makes airframe parts in-house. Think mainly sheet metal, etc.

I agree Mooney could do a better job of either stocking parts from vendors but if they can't afford to capitalize that venture, at least allowing the vendors to sell directly to the owner. 

[ohdub]

It took just over a year to get a replacement dial for my J. Hopefully you'll have better luck. 

Steve

[Patrick Horan]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

Mooney has never manufactured any of those parts. Rochester makes the wing gauges, Eaton (or Plessey) makes the no-back springs, Lord makes the shock discs. Mooney still makes airframe parts in-house. Think mainly sheet metal, etc.

I agree Mooney could do a better job of either stocking parts from vendors but if they can't afford to capitalize that venture, at least allowing the vendors to sell directly to the owner. 

I called up both LASAR and Maxwell and both asked Mooney if they could manufacture themselves/ buy it from Rochester themselves. Mooney said no and that was that. It's times like this, I wish Mooney would just go out of Business for good. The service centers would be able to make parts and Garmin would be able to upgrade the legacy g1000 (if garmin wanted too)

[LANCECASPER]

15 hours ago, Patrick Horan said:

I called up both LASAR and Maxwell and both asked Mooney if they could manufacture themselves/ buy it from Rochester themselves. Mooney said no and that was that. It's times like this, I wish Mooney would just go out of Business for good. The service centers would be able to make parts and Garmin would be able to upgrade the legacy g1000 (if garmin wanted too)

While I understand what you're saying, be careful what you wish for. There are, on the average, a couple of gear-up landings every week in Mooneys. Without parts these airplanes would be totaled. Also there is damage with other incidents/accidents. The metal parts that Mooney produces keeps the fleet flying. The other vendor parts (fuels sight gauges, no-back springs, air ducts) aren't always in stock but eventually Mooney comes through and gets them.

Hopefully Mooney has some representation at MooneyMax in September and we can first thank them for doing what they continue to do, and then voice our concerns about this.

@Tom F recently talked to Garmin and if there are fifty G1000 Mooney owners that would upgrade they would make it happen.  

)

[PT20J]

I know for a fact that Mooney manufactured ten nose gear legs a little over a year ago, so they are making more than just sheet metal. Custom parts made outside likely have a minimum order and perhaps a setup charge and that ties up cash needed for things that are more immediately important like payroll, taxes, rent. Also, the previous owners may have left some unpaid bills which vendors will want paid before accepting new orders. Another cash drain. Been there. It's a tough situation. 

[Pinecone]

I see several paths forward for these parts.  And some are at no out of pocket cost or it comes back immediately or very quickly.

1)  Release vendors to sell directly.  Or may directly to MSCs.  No cost to Mooney, we get the parts we need.

2)  Pre-order the parts.  Leverage the owners and MSCs by taking orders, with 100% deposit and when they get enough, place the order with the vendor.  No out of pocket for Mooney, and they actually make some money.

3)  Just bite the bullet for the most commonly requested things (poll the owners and MSCs), and order a bunch of the part.

I would buy a spare wing fuel gauge or two.  In fact I have.  I would even buy a spare No Back Spring.  I found a space turbo v-band clamp and have it on the shelf.

[PT20J]

Had a friend that had a Mercedes 300 SL. It needed a new fuel injector body. Mercedes agreed to allow Bosch to sell directly to owners. Bosch agreed to build a minimum order of ten for $10K each. That was 40 years ago, so $10K then would be about $30K today. My friend got 9 others together and they bought the parts.

So it’s possible to do this sort of thing, but it might be expensive. How many Mooneys have the wing gauges and how many would buy spares and at what price? 

[Patrick Horan]

1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

I see several paths forward for these parts.  And some are at no out of pocket cost or it comes back immediately or very quickly.

1)  Release vendors to sell directly.  Or may directly to MSCs.  No cost to Mooney, we get the parts we need.

2)  Pre-order the parts.  Leverage the owners and MSCs by taking orders, with 100% deposit and when they get enough, place the order with the vendor.  No out of pocket for Mooney, and they actually make some money.

3)  Just bite the bullet for the most commonly requested things (poll the owners and MSCs), and order a bunch of the part.

I would buy a spare wing fuel gauge or two.  In fact I have.  I would even buy a spare No Back Spring.  I found a space turbo v-band clamp and have it on the shelf.

That is exactly what the Mooney Service centers were trying to do. But Mooney denied them

[Patrick Horan]

4 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

While I understand what you're saying, be careful what you wish for. There are, on the average, a couple of gear-up landings every week in Mooneys. Without parts these airplanes would be totaled. Also there is damage with other incidents/accidents. The metal parts that Mooney produces keeps the fleet flying. The other vendor parts (fuels sight gauges, no-back springs, air ducts) aren't always in stock but eventually Mooney comes through and gets them.

Hopefully Mooney has some representation at MooneyMax in September and we can first thank them for doing what they continue to do, and then voice our concerns about this.

@Tom F recently talked to Garmin and if there are fifty G1000 Mooney owners that would upgrade they would make it happen.  

)

I agree, I want them to be successful. But I feel like the service centers would be able to make these 

[Texas Mooney]

3 hours ago, Patrick Horan said:

That is exactly what the Mooney Service centers were trying to do. But Mooney denied them

Right. @donkaye reported that Mark Rauch, owner of Top Gun Aviation MSC Stockton,CA cannot motivate Mooney with cash to buy vendor (third party) manufactured proprietary Mooney parts. 

“ Cash for parts purchases by Mooney didn't seem to be the issue, since they offered to prepay for the parts they needed and were denied by Mooney.  Mark seemed to think it was going to take pressure on Mooney by Owners to try to change their policy.  Nobody seems to know why Mooney has taken this position on outsourced parts.”

 

[Patrick Horan]

56 minutes ago, Texas Mooney said:

Right. @donkaye reported that Mark Rauch, owner of Top Gun Aviation MSC Stockton,CA cannot motivate Mooney with cash to buy vendor (third party) manufactured proprietary Mooney parts. 

“ Cash for parts purchases by Mooney didn't seem to be the issue, since they offered to prepay for the parts they needed and were denied by Mooney.  Mark seemed to think it was going to take pressure on Mooney by Owners to try to change their policy.  Nobody seems to know why Mooney has taken this position on outsourced parts.”

 

I just don't understand Mooney's thought process on all this.

[Pinecone]

Me either.

They can get cash up front to cover the cost of ordering, purchasing, shipping and some profit.

Another idea, let the manufacturers sell them direct, but with a small fee to Mooney per part.  Even better, they get cash in, at no cost to themselves.

[LANCECASPER]

3 hours ago, Patrick Horan said:

I just don't understand Mooney's thought process on all this.

The only thing I can think of is that they already owe that vendor more money that this order would net them.

[Patrick Horan]

2 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

The only thing I can think of is that they already owe that vendor more money that this order would net them.

That reasoning does make sense. But dang that would just be sad. I wished someone from the company was able to be open and upfront today

[Pinecone]

Tell use a number.  X at this price or Y at this price and see if owners and MSCs will come up with the price.

Or, as I said, set up for vendor to sell direct for a piece.  That piece could start with paying down the debt.

[Patrick Horan]

2 hours ago, Pinecone said:

Tell use a number.  X at this price or Y at this price and see if owners and MSCs will come up with the price.

Or, as I said, set up for vendor to sell direct for a piece.  That piece could start with paying down the debt.

The MSC were willing to pay whatever it took. Not just for this part, but for a lot of other parts that are causing planes to be grounded. Mooney said no

[Pinecone]

Just makes NO sense

[LANCECASPER]

Since they are looking for a buyer for the company it might not make sense to give up their distribution network (Mooney Service Centers) by allowing them to buy from the manufacturers and lose that perceived value to the buyer.

[Texas Mooney]

15 hours ago, Patrick Horan said:

I wished someone from the company was able to be open and upfront today

Well said.  Sometimes it takes a fresh voice to say the obvious that “is hiding in plain sight” without being beat down by the dominating voices on this site.  

[PT20J]

I own a 2009 Subaru Outback. It has a seeping power steering hose. Subaru no longer makes the part and there are no aftermarket replacements. Last I checked, Subaru was a going concern. When Clarence used to post here, he pointed out that some Cirrus parts have very long lead times. Beechcraft owners waited years to finally get some magnesium control surfaces made. I was pleased that Mooney could provide me with a new nose gear leg when an FBO damaged mine. Personally, I can live without a redundant fuel gauge. I understand that some of you cannot.

[Patrick Horan]

27 minutes ago, PT20J said:

I own a 2009 Subaru Outback. It has a seeping power steering hose. Subaru no longer makes the part and there are no aftermarket replacements. Last I checked, Subaru was a going concern. When Clarence used to post here, he pointed out that some Cirrus parts have very long lead times. Beechcraft owners waited years to finally get some magnesium control surfaces made. I was pleased that Mooney could provide me with a new nose gear leg when an FBO damaged mine. Personally, I can live without a redundant fuel gauge. I understand that some of you cannot.

I agree with you. But incase of Subaru. You can legally manufacture your own parts or use stuff that are similar. With a airplane. It's a little bit of a grey area with PMA. Especially with newerish airplanes

[Hank]

Just now, Patrick Horan said:

I agree with you. But incase of Subaru. You can legally manufacture your own parts or use stuff that are similar. With a airplane. It's a little bit of a grey area with PMA. Especially with newerish airplanes

Owner Produced Parts is always an option. The amount of owner "involvement" can be surprisingly little.