lwford
New member
Boys, can't stress the check gear enough on these crates. I noticed recently my left gear green down light just didn't seem as bright as the right gear down light. I also recall last month that the left gear red light pulled the same stunt just once,then returned to normal. I started this years Annual a month late due to an engine overhaul on a Piper that I call the Albatross. I found the problem on the crate during the retract test. I had assumed that the gear switches (1958) were beginning to fail, but that was not the case. It turns out that there is a welded metal tab on the upper gear leg that actuates both up and down switches. Sure as S--- it was cracked and bending as it made contact with the gear switch actuators. Problem, the gear leg needs to be removed to get to this. Surprisingly, that was fairly easy to do. Remove the wheel and disconnect everything attached to the gear leg. Remove the nuts from the rod that holds the leg in the trunnion. Take the pressure off the gear leg by partially retracting the gear. Slide the rod outboard as there is a hole in the rib for this. I thought I would have to keep the leg in place but the inboard side dropped down and I was able to remove the rod. The reason it dropped turns out that there is a removable bushing in the outboard trunnion that came out allowing the leg to tilt enough to remove the rod. I checked the logbooks and the last owner had replaced the upper gear assembly in Feb 1994. It appears he hit something and took it to the factory MI for repair. I can now have my welder friend fix this tab or replace it. I will let him decide what to do. This whole thing was done in less than 2 hours. Just two months ago I was replacing O rings in the right retract strut. I have factory drawings for this strut (18500-20) and sent copies to Robert at the Club. So Boys, once again CHECK GEAR. Lynn the crate :!:
