Gear problem

[Bryan Rose]

Flew my Twincomanche on 3 approaches today, no problems. When I tried to lower the gear it did not budge. The breaker was popped. I moved the switch to the middle position, reset the breaker, made sure pumps were off, and landing lights off. Cycled the switch again, breaker pops immediately. Lowered gear manually with no problem.

Where do I start?

[N3322G]

Bryan,

First, nice job on getting the gear down manually - many others have failed in that regard.

I'm assuming that you got a green light and the twin is safely in the hangar so you know it won't be on its belly when you next visit.

If you are able and have the skills, I'd suggest putting the twin on jacks and cycling the gear to see what happens. Kristin wrote a nice post about the steps to verify whether this is an electrical or mechanical problem. You might try searching this forum on 'circuit breaker pop' in the upper right corner.

The posts will raise questions like: Battery health, circuit breaker health, any other recent work done, 1000 hr AD compliance and who did the work, conduit health, motor and transmission health, wiring harness health, etc. Good news is all these parts are available. Comanchegear.com is where I always start for gear stuff.

If you have to take the twin to a shop, suggest you do it without raising the gear. Having done this fly slow and chant on departure, 'Don't raise the gear, don't raise the gear ...' otherwise for me, muscle memory would have the gear up as usual.

I know Clifton is a distance for you but they do know Comanches well and where to get these parts. If you decide to fly that distance, you might consider taking off the gear doors to save wear.

Please post what you decide to do and how this progresses. When you get more specific on your findings, folks can likely offer more specific opinions.

[Bryan Rose]

Thanks for posting Patricia. 68Y is definitely a Tim Tally bird, so that would be the first shop I'd take her to. As it turns out it is a bad battery. The battery was slightly sluggish on startup yesterday. I read Comanche tips until 1:00 AM this morning, so I had a good idea how to proceed. Another testament to the value of Comanche Tips.

I jacked the plane up, reconnected the gear...by the way, I was surprised to find there is very little on exactly how to do this in the service manual and the web. A little trial and error and we figured it out. Breaker would pop just as it got to the top, and the motor really sounded like it was not getting enough juice. Put a battery charger on for 1 hour, same result. Switched my volt meter to amps. Cycled the gear and monitored the amperage. At the top it peaked at 52. Put a new battery on, gear came up much more aggressively and the amps peaked at 22, no CB pop.

Had her off the jacks and ready to go by Super Bowl half time. She lives in a Taj Mahal with giant flat screen to watch and work, no harm no foul!

Stop by F49 and visit!

[N3322G]

Bryan,

So glad this was such a simple thing. I do like the ICS website for being able to access Tips and Parts and Service Manuals wherever you have internet access.

Do you seriously have a flat screen in the hangar? If so, it would be great to have a picture posted. Super Bowl is the one football game I watch without fast forwarding. Interesting game. Those QBs make those passes look so easy. I rooted for the 9ers on behalf of my CA sister but in the end was simply happy to have an enjoyable competition.

Perhaps we'll meet at Tim's sometime - are you coming for the April maintenance deal at Clifton? We are - figure there is always something to learn.

[Bryan Rose]

Gear Swing! You'll see the Super Bowl on the big screen in the background if you set youtube to HD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCzMvad-k3w

[David Pfeffer]

I have huge hanger envy!!!

[N3322G]

Ditto on the hangar envy - big time!

[Hansmeister]

You need to do more checking of the gear system. Pat K's list certainly covers all the usual suspects. Maximum current draw occurs just before the gear finally up, and current draw should be somewhere around 18 to 20 amps max. If it is 50 as you say, there is some serious friction or binding going on.

[Bryan Rose]

Thanks Hans, after replacing the battery the max voltage was 22. So, looks to be good to go!

[Chief]

you may have old sticky and gummed up grease in your cable conduits. That was our problem. Webco has a fix. Just a thought

[Charles Schefer]

[Matt Bogard]

Within a year of buying my 250 I had the micro-switches and wiring harnesses replaced with the ComancheGear.com kit, had ComancheGear overhaul my gear motor and transmission, and had the new push-pull cables installed from Webco.

I was shocked at how brittle the old wiring was. I was shocked at what bad shape the micro-switches were in. I was shocked at how loud my gear motor was before the rebuild compared to after. I was shocked at how much friction there was in the old push-pull cables and how much less effort it now takes for me to manually raise and lower the gear when on jacks.

Food for thought....