Landing gear indicator (on the floor) 78' M20J

[Mooney13]

My indicator light on the floor betwen the front seats is no longer lighting up. However the gear light on the annunciator panel is working fine. I am wondering if it is legal to fly with just one indicator light (obviously until i get it fixed) and my second question is if I have to take a belly skin off to get to the light and change it. I took the plastic off inside and see nowhere to change a bulb...I am assuming it is the light as the other one works, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Kwixdraw]

Stretching my memory some but I believe the answer is Yes and Yes.  If you have not had a one piece belly installed I believe you can take one section of the belly skin off to replace it. Check your service manual for the final word though. 

[Magnum]

Even when the lamp is not working check the mechanical gear down indicator (with a flash light if necessary). If the gear down limit switch is not working correctly, you will get the gear down indication but the gear won't move when you select gear down. A 231 owner at my field learned it the hard way. After it happened the maintenance shop tested the gear and it was working fine, so no one believed him that he really put the switch down. Then they cycled the gear for over 100 times and then it happend again. That helped him a bit...

[Mooney13]

Thanks for the info. I am going to try to change the bulb, then go from there.. My annual was just 3 weeks ago and gear was working good and seems to be now. Sure wish that bulb was a little easier to get to and it would have happened when we had the skins off...

thanks again!

[Teddsgotwings]

On 1/31/2010 at 5:37 AM, Mooney13 said:

Thanks for the info. I am going to try to change the bulb, then go from there.. My annual was just 3 weeks ago and gear was working good and seems to be now. Sure wish that bulb was a little easier to get to and it would have happened when we had the skins off...

 

thanks again!

 

How hard was this? I have the exact same issue in my ‘78 J. The light just died this past week and it’s pretty unnerving not being able to do the gear down confirmation.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Teddsgotwings said:

How hard was this? I have the exact same issue in my ‘78 J. The light just died this past week and it’s pretty unnerving not being able to do the gear down confirmation.

You have to remove the belly panels to gain access to the light socket.  A 5/16” small ignition wrench is helpful in removing the bulb retainer.  The build is normally a GE327, a 28 volt build in a 14 volt plane, this dims the light quite a bit.  Some people install an LED build which is much brighter and lasts forever.

Clarence

[flyboy0681]

14 hours ago, M20Doc said:

You have to remove the belly panels to gain access to the light socket.  A 5/16” small ignition wrench is helpful in removing the bulb retainer.  The build is normally a GE327, a 28 volt build in a 14 volt plane, this dims the light quite a bit.  Some people install an LED build which is much brighter and lasts forever.

Clarence

Any recommendation for an LED that contains the same mount as the GE327?

[Guest]

8 hours ago, flyboy0681 said:

Any recommendation for an LED that contains the same mount as the GE327?

These seem to work Okay.

https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/330

[A64Pilot]

51 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

These seem to work Okay.

https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/330

Thanks, I have my annual coming up soon, and really like the idea of a brighter light.

Those that are going to order there is a min $10 order required, so I just got two of them, LED position lights were enticing, but they were $145.

[flyboy0681]

1 minute ago, A64Pilot said:

Thanks, I have my annual coming up soon, and really like the idea of a brighter light.

Those that are going to order there is a min $10 order required, so I just got two of them, LED position lights were enticing, but they were $145.

My annual is coming up as well and I just ordered two of them.

[Guest]

Angled 5/16” ignition from Craftsman are useful in getting the retainer out.

Clarence

 

[n5756k]

It is not hard to replace the bulb, only a little time consuming. Remove the belly pan and replace the bulb. The gear indicator is still working, until you get this done keep a flashlight close by. Just point it at the gear indicator window on he floor to confirm the gear is down.

Tom Moquin

M20J

[testwest]

I replaced that GE327 bulb with the Aerolites #330 in warm white on N201JX. I also replaced the clear plastic window as well (owner-produced part out of thin clear plexiglas the same thickness as the original)....and the visibility of the gear down placard is amazingly good now. Some labor but less than $20 in materials and is an easy owner-operator job.

[flyboy0681]

8 hours ago, testwest said:

I replaced that GE327 bulb with the Aerolites #330 in warm white on N201JX. I also replaced the clear plastic window as well (owner-produced part out of thin clear plexiglas the same thickness as the original)....and the visibility of the gear down placard is amazingly good now. Some labor but less than $20 in materials and is an easy owner-operator job.

How do you gain access to the plastic?

[1980Mooney]

21 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

How do you gain access to the plastic?

Unless the plastic has discolored and turned black why not just use plastic polish or tooth paste to polish it?   

[Marauder]

How do you gain access to the plastic?

Lowe’s. They have a great selection. I don’t remember the thickness but you can use a caliper to measure. It’s pretty thin.

I made one up as an owner supplied part and had it installed at one of my annuals.


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[Marauder]

Unless the plastic has discolored and turned black why not just use plastic polish or tooth paste to polish it?   

Mine was discolored all the way through the material.


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[testwest]

The plastic may be removed by removing the six screws from the indicator as shown here:

 

This is from page 32-30-00 page 0 from the IPC. Remove the two screws #77 and four screws #78, but be careful to keep the shims and indicator slide in register.

I did try using plastic polish initially just like 1980Mooney said, but the plastic was too far gone to polish out nicely. So the labor and cost to make a new one was a better choice personally.

 

[flyboy0681]

5 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Lowe’s. They have a great selection. I don’t remember the thickness but you can use a caliper to measure. It’s pretty thin.

I made one up as an owner supplied part and had it installed at one of my annuals.


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I meant in the plane. How is it accessed between the seats?

[testwest]

Aha, sorry about that! It's much easier to just pull the seats out to do this work.

[Marauder]

I meant in the plane. How is it accessed between the seats?

I originally had a plastic piece covering the area in between the seats. If you remove that, you’ll see the screws testwest is talking about. Really easy to get to once you remove the plastic cover over the area.


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[Marauder]

And as testwest said, it’s easier when the seats are out. Mainly to remove the plastic covering over the area.


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[testwest]

Marauder is correct, N201JX is a 77 with the fuel selector in the forward left foot well. It just had a small metal retainer over the plastic. The later models have a royalite (Kydex) cover that needs to be removed.

I will say the window clean up and LED bulb replacement are well worth the effort!

[flyboy0681]

4 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I originally had a plastic piece covering the area in between the seats. If you remove that, you’ll see the screws testwest is talking about. Really easy to get to once you remove the plastic cover over the area.


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Ok, got it. Thanks.

[Ragsf15e]

4 hours ago, flyboy0681 said:

How do you gain access to the plastic?

You can see (and clean) the plexi from the cockpit easily…  but Changing the bulb requires pulling a belly panel.  It is pretty self explanatory once you pull the belly panel and see it.  It’s still a small place to work but not terrible.  As others said, the stock light is 24v in a 12v airplane to dim it.  If you use a 12v led it’s bright and your original plexi might be fine.