Tailpipe hitting fuselage

[KB68M20F]

This is my first posting...hope you are all having a fine day.  Have any of you had any issues with the tailpipe hitting the fuselage during flight?  I have a '68 F model.  I have tried every combination of tailpipe hangar material, hangar position, ball joint spring tension, cushioning material on the fuselage, etc. to no avail.  I called the Mooney factory and confirmed the proper part numbers and dimensions of the tailpipe hangar/tailpipe etc.  During flight when the tailpipe contacts the fuselage, there is a noticable vibration.  This vibration is absent when the pipe is not contacting the fuselage.  The lord mounts on the engine are now about 7 years old although there is no noticable droop of the engine.  Any experience in this area would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

[Immelman]

I will second the recommendation for the tailpipe hanger made from an 'owner produced' part from the "flat spotted tire in the basement PMA department".

Actually my plane was that way when i bought it too. When the rubber tore, I fabricated a replacement from a tire. I notice that my tailpipe is substantially shorter than the fellow's photos above though, so I only have one hangar in the factory original position from a mount on the lower right portion of the firewall.

As an aside, I had one other problem with this which was the weld on the tailpipe bracket broke one day... had to get it re-welded (cheapest airplane fix I've paid for, $5..) anyway I include that weld as part of my preflight inspection these days should it go again.

[georgeb]

I've got a '70 'E' that had this problem but only when the flex bracket would break on mine. I posted this on MAPA and got several responses (even from Don Maxwell) to just cut up a tire and fabricate a replacement during every annual (the tire options seems to be good for a year and very popular, even with MSC's). Do you even have this bracket? It sounds like you don't. The Factory will recommend their part which is also a pliable (tire looking) material that allows the bracket to flex under stress (as in takoff and for some of us even landing). Pretty much in the MAPA list that responded agreed that you'd get just as much (if not more) life from a piece of tire than the factory one. The tire option worked for a couple months for me before breaking again, but I've been good for 8 mos now on a bracket fabricated from an automotive (pre 70's) muffler bracket. We took the material off of that and adapted it to the mooney bracket (the same as you would do with the piece of tire and the factory bracket). If you need to, I can take a pic and show you what I'm referring to.

George