Johnson Bar will not lock in the down position w/o a fight.

[mikesalman]

Hi folks my name is Mike and I just bought my first airplane. After a year of shopping and getting my private in oct. I decided on a Mooney.

M20F 21NA. I love it, after a week of waiting for insurance and bad weather to pass I was able to go up with my flight instructor for our first flight since it was delivered by the ferry pilot. I plane flew great after about 10 minutes of wresting with the Johnson Bar to get it engaged in the down position. Please any advise as to what might be making it so hard to lock in the down position, the plane has not flown much in the past year and the ferry pilot had the same problem.

[mooneygirl]

I would check two things:  the gear tension and the down latch to make sure it isn't egg shaped. With mine, the tension was right, but the stops, both up and down had become egg-shaped over the years.  I purchased new ones from LASAR [Lake Aero Styling and Repair]. The gear down from LASAR is a mod which is much stronger than the original.

I hope this helps. The other thing I have to do is make sure that I get the gear up before I am going really fast. 

I have a 65 E model.

[AmigOne]

Can you check with the ferry pilot if he had any problems with locking down the bar?.  Are you sure that something didn't get between the bar and the floor and you did no notice.  I know because it happened to me! Now is an item in my checklist.

[DrBill]

Check your carpet, make sure it's smooth from fore to aft where the bar goes. I've had a wrinkle there that could give me a fit to get it locked up.  A couple flights ago, I had a wrinkle that was so small that I didn't notice it and I felt I had the bar latched. Then about a min or 2 later, I noticed the bar sitting there about 1/2 way up...  Now I had to slow it down to under 90 to make it easy to get it in the latch.

If you wait too long and your speed gets over 90mph, you'll have trouble pushing the last few inches.

Please post what you find.

BILL

[BigTex]

If its not your speed, I'd put it up on jacks and cycle the gear a few times. It might Be a rigging problem.

[Bob_Belville]

I had this problem with my "new" Mooney. In my case it was glue thickness where someone had stuck down the back edge of the cloth boot. There's a "nip point" right behind the hole in the floorboard where the lever has to get very close to the floor. Be sure there's little or nothing on the floor at that spot. Bob

[rbridges]

I would check two things:  the gear tension and the down latch to make sure it isn't egg shaped. With mine, the tension was right, but the stops, both up and down had become egg-shaped over the years.  I purchased new ones from LASAR [Lake Aero Styling and Repair]. The gear down from LASAR is a mod which is much stronger than the original.

I hope this helps. The other thing I have to do is make sure that I get the gear up before I am going really fast. 

I have a 65 E model.

 

I'd check the latch, also.  They can wear over time.  Also, as others have mentioned, make sure the floor is clear.  It doesn't take much at all to interfere.  I had a pen that fell during takeoff and it kept me from locking the bar.

[PMcClure]

My guess is speed. If I ever forgot to retract on my F model it was impossible to get it down at higher speeds.

[scottfromiowa]

He said gear down, right? That would be locked up on panel. Nothing to do with something on floor...I have to give a slight twist of the locking handle to secure down and locked. Make sure to pull the handle down as you swing it in then up and twist. It will become natural. Have fun with your new bird. PS. I installed an audible gear alert and it has sounded for both my partner and I. A little twist and it locked in place. Pull twist seat and give a tug.

[jetdriven]

For god sakes dont fly it again you put it on jacks and find the problem.

[PMcClure]

Wait....gear down or bar down?

[Bob_Belville]

Mike says it flew great after fighting 10 minutes to get it in the down position. I assume he means bar down = gear up.

[clh]

I second Byron's "get it up on jacks" comment.  It is difficult, but not impossible to bend the mechanism.  If that happens, you can either find the gear unable to lower, or as what I heard happen over in Florida a couple of years ago, The mechanism actually bound up the aileron controls and caused problems when landing.

 

Find out if it is mechanical, carpet, or technique on the ground first.

 

craig

[moodychief]

Make sure the Johnson Bar is lubricated. There is a hole on the Johnson bar you can squirt lubricant towards the top. Sometimes when it needs lubrication it is hard to slide into the floor bracket enough for it to be locked into place.

[PTK]

... my flight instructor for our first flight since it was delivered by the ferry pilot. I plane flew great after about 10 minutes of wresting with the Johnson Bar ... the plane has not flown much in the past year and the ferry pilot had the same problem.

Did you have a pre-buy inspection done by a competent Mooney mechanic? If so and if something was wrong it would've been noticed. Did they tell you anything about it? If not it would be a good idea to get it checked out by someone versed in the Mooney.

[N601RX]

Lubrication and rigging makes a big difference.  The other major factor is speed.  At 120mph is very difficult to do.  At 85 it takes very little effort if it is properly adjusted.  You can also just bank a little if you want to extend the gear and let gravity do the work.

 

I would put it on jacks before flying again and verify that everything is ok. I can't tell from the pictures, but if you have inner gear doors, that will make it considerably more difficult from what I have been told.

[PMcClure]

Mike, I hope you enjoy your new Mooney. The F model is a great little plane and was my first too. You can get some good advice here, so you are starting in a good place. In my experience with the Johnson Bar, if I didn't have the gear up (bar down) before I was at 90mph, it was almost impossible to get the bar down. If your problem was just getting the bar the last few inches to the floor and your speed was already above 90mph and the bar traveled smoothly back up (gear down) then I would assume that the speed was the problem. If you had any trouble getting the bar moving up or down (except as described above) then I wouldn't fly again until you have it checked out. You said the ferry pilot had the same trouble, ask him too what speed he was attempting to put the bar down. That said, it is only my opinion, not any expert advice. 

 

One more suggestion from me is to find a CFI who is familiar with a Mooney. I can forgive the guy if he has never seen a Johnson bar (but it does make me wonder how much experience he has. A good CFI with Mooney experience will save you a lot of headache, time and perhaps more one day. Ask around and make sure you find someone who knows these machines and can help you become an expert. 

 

Have fun, be safe!

[1964-M20E]

My former E gave me some resistncelocking the gear down after I had it for about 6 months.  I got under the plane and lube all the points I could see.

Put it on some stands and lube the gear and run it through some cycles.

[DrRobb]

I had similar problems with my '68C recently. The grease had gotten so old and caked with grime I couldn't get the collar to engage into the floor latch (I'm assuming we decided the problem we're discussing is gear retraction/bar on floor). After putting it on jacks and relubricating the collar, it works better than it ever did. The one thing I noticed is that cold weather made it much worse..

[scottfromiowa]

Hope that one post is not your last. If you had difficulty getting gear retracted...locked in floor then yes a screw cord and even carpet can make difficult. My new partner had difficulty at first as he was not pulling chrome handle down as he locked in place. And or was keeping it down so it would not lock in to the floor. With some practice it is second nature but yes is impossible to swing gear from panel at much over 100mph. Get it up on jacks and have it checked out. And practice unlocking swinging in one motion. Elbow up high. Have fun and give us an update.

[Sabremech]

I'm doing my annual right now and am putting on a new boot for the Johnson bar. I'm finding that with the new boot put in position the gear does not want to lock in the down position. Move the boot around and it might go in. There's little to no clearance between the bar and the nose wheel cover at the lowest point. Without the boot, it works normal. I guess I'm going to have to get creative with it. David

[N601RX]

I'm doing my annual right now and am putting on a new boot for the Johnson bar. I'm finding that with the new boot put in position the gear does not want to lock in the down position. Move the boot around and it might go in. There's little to no clearance between the bar and the nose wheel cover at the lowest point. Without the boot, it works normal. I guess I'm going to have to get creative with it.

David

Aero comfort makes a leather one that fits nice.

[Bob_Belville]

We (my trim shop) built and modified a leather boot several times. The design is tricky and I wound up getting one from Aerocomfort. Only about $50 in leather. Even so, it is a tight fit between the bar and the floorboard right behind the hole. You may have to do some trimming if there's carpet. Further back from the hole there is more clearance. Or so it is on my '66E.

[mikesalman]

If its not your speed, I'd put it up on jacks and cycle the gear a few times. It might Be a rigging problem.

My mechanic is waiting on some Mooney jack pads so we can cycle the gear.

Thanks

[mikesalman]

I would check two things:  the gear tension and the down latch to make sure it isn't egg shaped. With mine, the tension was right, but the stops, both up and down had become egg-shaped over the years.  I purchased new ones from LASAR [Lake Aero Styling and Repair]. The gear down from LASAR is a mod which is much stronger than the original.

I hope this helps. The other thing I have to do is make sure that I get the gear up before I am going really fast. 

I have a 65 E model.

Thanks I'm going to forward your response to my A&P