Question about 14-13 Landing Gear AD 63-17-01

A

allen_H

New member
Hello all,

My 14-13-3 is in for its first annual inspection since my purchase last February. If you are a 14-13 owner, I have a question about how your inspection of the rear spar main landing gear fittings has been done. Do you have to completely remove the fittings from the plane to perform the dye penetrant test? Has anyone successfully petitioned the FAA to have this 50 hour inspection interval time increased for their airplane? It is so time consuming to remove the rear fitting to perform this test every 50 hours; just looking to see if anyone has ideas or other methods that are easier.

Thanks,

Allen N1413B
 
Hi Allen: I am an A&P, IA mechanic and Bellanca lover-hater:

The AD 63-17-01 Para (a) calls for (in my interpretation) cleaning the grease and crud off the spar fitting and the retract strut ON THE PLANE, stripping off the paint in the "trunnion" areas (where the retract strut bolts go through) and the welds (all visible). apply the three steps of the dye-penetrant inspection procedure, which will show a very red stain along any cracks. Inspect any suspect welds and fitings with a 10 power magnifuing glass (I look it all overall bends and fittings with a glass. Clean the areas off and apply a LIGHT coat of rustoleum or fancier rust preventive primer. If you want it to look beautiful shoot a LIGHT coat of black hardware store paint. If you don't overdoo it the mechanic can merely wipe the paint off with thinner and inspect it without using stripper at the next inspection interval. A Bellanca owner has to stay away from overzealous mechanics who want to spend hours doing simple inspections or you won't be able to afford to fly these planes. Ken McCune 307-699-0087
 
Bones, I had a drag link fitting crack on my 14-19-2. The indication was a flashing red gear up light whenever the crate was in turbulance or a tight turn. I found this crack by jacking the crate and retracting the gear, I then pulled on the gear legs when they were up in the well. The leg should not move and sure enough the flashing light one moved about 2 inches, Close inspection found the up link bracket cracked. I bought a new one from AAC and it has been fine since. I agree you can spend a life time inspecting and fixing these machines, if it works don't touch it- if it don't work fix it and you will spend more time in the air than in the shop! The 14-19-3 has an AD 90-02-17 on this same problem but in tri gear configuration. LYNN N9818B the crate :shock:
 
Ken,

Thanks for the comments! Completely removing the landing gear parts for the dye inspection is a real pain for me; I would be doing this at least two times a year. I work with a mechanic that lets me do the disassembly and reassembly to help save costs. I will still look into the possibility of getting a waiver (I don't remember the actual term) to have this inspection interval increased for my airplane. Maybe others would also be interested if I can get this waiver.

Thanks again for your help.
 
I just pulled one of my rear spar gear attach brackets off. I can tell by the paint that they have not been checked in 10 years. I have the right one off now and found and re-welded 2 cracks. One crack is because the bolt was over torqued. It there any source for these brackets for the crusiair? What is the torque for these bolts through the spar?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
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