Barneyw Posted Tuesday at 09:12 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 09:12 PM Hi all Someone damaged the nose wheel "Leg Assy" by over steering. I think this part is also known as a "Truss" My nose wheel has an extra shock absorber fitted. Anyhow my understanding is that the shock absorber is unique to the "F" and therefore requires a unique "Truss". I just got. off the phone with Lasar and they inform me that they rarely see this type of truss. ATM there is nothing second hand available. Can anyone tell me a little bit of the history of the shock absorber on the "F" and if it is still needed given that Lasar told me the only "early version" of the truss is available without mounting holes. I'm assuming it is not required. Look forward to your replies. Cheers Barney PS I have tried to ring Mooney about this but no answer for now.
Hank Posted Tuesday at 09:17 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 09:17 PM Many of our older Mooneys once had a shock absorber on the nose wheel; my 1970 C has the (empty) brackets on the leg. Apparently Mooney decided they were not necessary, and they quit putting them on at some point. There may be an SB allowing it's removal. I've owned my C since 2007, there was no shock when I bought it.
Cfidave Posted Tuesday at 09:40 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 09:40 PM I believe there is an SB to remove it. Mooney states something along the lines of " serves no useful purpose". At least this is true for my C model. 1
Ragsf15e Posted Tuesday at 09:46 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 09:46 PM 33 minutes ago, Barneyw said: Hi all Someone damaged the nose wheel "Leg Assy" by over steering. I think this part is also known as a "Truss" My nose wheel has an extra shock absorber fitted. Anyhow my understanding is that the shock absorber is unique to the "F" and therefore requires a unique "Truss". I just got. off the phone with Lasar and they inform me that they rarely see this type of truss. ATM there is nothing second hand available. Can anyone tell a little bit of the history of the shock absorber on the "F" and if it is still needed given that Lasar told me the only "early version" of the truss is available without mounting holes. I'm assuming it is not required. Look forward to your replies. Cheers Barney PS I have tried to ring Mooney about this but no answer for now. A picture would help, but it’s probably the thing that’s not required.
Flyler Posted Tuesday at 09:55 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 09:55 PM 41 minutes ago, Barneyw said: Hi all Someone damaged the nose wheel "Leg Assy" by over steering. I think this part is also known as a "Truss" My nose wheel has an extra shock absorber fitted. Anyhow my understanding is that the shock absorber is unique to the "F" and therefore requires a unique "Truss". I just got. off the phone with Lasar and they inform me that they rarely see this type of truss. ATM there is nothing second hand available. Can anyone tell a little bit of the history of the shock absorber on the "F" and if it is still needed given that Lasar told me the only "early version" of the truss is available without mounting holes. I'm assuming it is not required. Look forward to your replies. Cheers Barney PS I have tried to ring Mooney about this but no answer for now. Call South West Texas Aviation. They also repair the leg via welding and heat treat. It was a year ago now, but I sent them a leg from my F model and while it did not have the shock absorber installed, it did have the extra hole in the leg. Maybe you'll get lucky!
N201MKTurbo Posted Tuesday at 10:47 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 10:47 PM I threw my shock away in 1989.
1980Mooney Posted Tuesday at 11:15 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 11:15 PM 1 hour ago, Barneyw said: Hi all Someone damaged the nose wheel "Leg Assy" by over steering. I think this part is also known as a "Truss" My nose wheel has an extra shock absorber fitted. Anyhow my understanding is that the shock absorber is unique to the "F" and therefore requires a unique "Truss". I just got. off the phone with Lasar and they inform me that they rarely see this type of truss. ATM there is nothing second hand available. Can anyone tell a little bit of the history of the shock absorber on the "F" and if it is still needed given that Lasar told me the only "early version" of the truss is available without mounting holes. I'm assuming it is not required. Look forward to your replies. Cheers Barney PS I have tried to ring Mooney about this but no answer for now. There is an Engineering Drawing that allows removal. You won't find it in the Service Bulletins. @Andy95W posted it a couple years ago but the link no longer works. Maybe he can post it again. Don't forget to revise the Weight and Balance when you remove it. It is over 2 lbs on the nose.
PT20J Posted Tuesday at 11:56 PM Report Posted Tuesday at 11:56 PM The nose gear has three parts. The upper part is the truss, the middle part(which is the part that gets damaged by oversteering) is the leg, and the lower part is the spindle. But everybody seems to call the leg a truss.
Barneyw Posted Wednesday at 03:12 AM Author Report Posted Wednesday at 03:12 AM 3 hours ago, PT20J said: The nose gear has three parts. The upper part is the truss, the middle part(which is the part that gets damaged by oversteering) is the leg, and the lower part is the spindle. But everybody seems to call the leg a truss. Yes the terms seem to be interchangeable but you are correct.
Mooney in Oz Posted Wednesday at 08:43 AM Report Posted Wednesday at 08:43 AM 23 hours ago, Barneyw said: Hi all Someone damaged the nose wheel "Leg Assy" by over steering. I think this part is also known as a "Truss" My nose wheel has an extra shock absorber fitted. Anyhow my understanding is that the shock absorber is unique to the "F" and therefore requires a unique "Truss". I just got. off the phone with Lasar and they inform me that they rarely see this type of truss. ATM there is nothing second hand available. Can anyone tell me a little bit of the history of the shock absorber on the "F" and if it is still needed given that Lasar told me the only "early version" of the truss is available without mounting holes. I'm assuming it is not required. Look forward to your replies. Cheers Barney PS I have tried to ring Mooney about this but no answer for now. Hi Barney, I had also had a shock absorber the same as yours on the nose wheel of my J when I bought it 24 years ago. My Mooney was looked after in those days by Hamish Ramsay (who has since retired) at YWGT and I recall him suggesting he remove it as Cfidave suggested, Mooney considered it to serve no useful purpose and authorised the removal if desired, so that is what Hamish did. I forgot about it until I just read your thread.
cliffy Posted yesterday at 03:01 AM Report Posted yesterday at 03:01 AM Not needed Can be removed Probably can't get the shock itself anyway.
N201MKTurbo Posted yesterday at 03:44 AM Report Posted yesterday at 03:44 AM 42 minutes ago, cliffy said: Not needed Can be removed Probably can't get the shock itself anyway. You can still get it at the NAPA. 1
Justin Schmidt Posted yesterday at 03:58 AM Report Posted yesterday at 03:58 AM 13 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said: You can still get it at the NAPA. But then there is no aviation markup 1
Hank Posted yesterday at 01:01 PM Report Posted yesterday at 01:01 PM 9 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said: You can still get it at the NAPA. National Aircraft Parts Association has many parts for our Vintage birds! 1
cliffy Posted yesterday at 01:43 PM Report Posted yesterday at 01:43 PM And the 8130 is signed by the 17 year old behind the counter :-)
Shadrach Posted 16 hours ago Report Posted 16 hours ago I removed the shock from my F model when I received a new nose truss from LASAR that did not have the upper boss for the shock. Maybe it served no useful purpose according to Mooney, but it definitely dampened the rebound in the nose gear suspension. I have a parking pad for the nose gear that essentially has two rounded chocks for parking locators. The nose gear suspension behaves completely differently on the rebound going over those chocks without the shock. Maybe it doesn’t matter, but it’s way less refined then it was with the shock. My shock is still flying on the nose of a C model near Stuttgart. The owner is based on grass and prefers the dampened nose gear on turf. 1
PT20J Posted 14 hours ago Report Posted 14 hours ago I agree with Ross @Shadrach. My 1978 J had one; my 1994 J does not. If I don’t get a greaser landing, the pitch down when the mains touch can bang the nose wheel down. It was much softer on the 1978 with the shock. 1
Flyler Posted 13 hours ago Report Posted 13 hours ago I imagine any time the nose wheel bounces and the leg goes "boing" in rebound against the stop, the moment it imparts will unlock the nose gear momentarily. A shock damper would really help with that phenomenon, if it does indeed happen.
takair Posted 11 hours ago Report Posted 11 hours ago On 9/30/2025 at 7:49 PM, Barneyw said: I don’t think I’ve seen the disc stop block oriented forward like that on the nose gear before. It’s the block right under the index pointer. Is that correct for your model? Edit: Just confirmed. On nose gear that block should face aft to provide better support for the shock disc. On the mains they face forward. As I recall, these are LASAR mods. 1
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