good mechanic in Nebraska

[Gerald Matzke]

Need to find an experienced comanche mechanic in Nebraska. Any thoughts??

[N3322G]

You might try one of the 18 Comanche owners in NE by checking the Pathfinder tab from the Home page and just searching on NE or perhaps your Tribe rep/Chief can help if no one posts here. Click here for Tribe folks http://www.comancheflyer.com/NS/bod_list.php

Hope this helps.

[Matt Bogard]

Gerald,

Greetings! I see you're down in the Gothenburg/Cozad area - I am up in Omaha and base at North Omaha (3NO).

I hightly recommend Fremont Aviation in Fremont (FET) - they work on multiple Comanches regularly and are very familiar with the type. They have converted my generator to alternator, replaced all of my landing gear squat switches/harnesses, main landing gear push-pull cables, pulled new copper battery cables, and numerous other things over the last year and a half. Lots of experience in that shop and good knowledge of the PA-24.

Otherwise, the mecca of knowledgable Comanche mechanics is Webco just south of you in Newton, Kansas.

Good luck!

[Gerald Matzke]

thanks Matt,

I've heard that Webco is very good but IS overly expensive. I'll look into Fremont. I was flying to Boone IA monday and the gears wouldn't go down! Yikes. While I was re-reading the cover over the manual lever, with the switch in the down position, the gears finally engaged and landed without incident.

On the return flight to CZD no problems. So I'm having my A and P look at it, but if it needs work he doesn't have "all the tools" needed to work on the gears. He told me that i'd have to go to Des moines. I just thought someone else would be closer.

Thanks for taking the time to answer back. I appreciate it.

jay

[Kristin Winter]

I have never found Webco to be over-priced. Admittedly, I have mostly just bought parts from them. If you are hoping that Des Moines Flying Service knows something about Comanches, I wouldn't hold your breath. I am not sure that they even have a service department anymore, but they used to be the Piper experts. I would recommend taking you landing gear problems to Webco.

[Ray B]

I agree with Kristin. I have had my Comanche in Webco's shop for maintenance on three separate occasions and was very happy with the work and the shop hourly rate. They have many new parts for my 52 year old bird that you would not normally think about, thus making it easy to spend on things not necessarily needed. But new door thresholds and door slide/stop parts along with new dog dish and decal around the fuel selector are hard to pass up, as was the new Cherokee door latch. Good work is the reason you usually have to make an appointment a month in advance. Ray B

[Matt Bogard]

And it sounds like your gear problems should first be addressed by installing Matt Kurke's Landing Gear Harness Kit - comanchegear.com - as I had the same problem with mine when I first bought it and it fixed everything. You'll be shocked when you see the condition of the wiring that comes off the bird.