PA-24 260B w/ LoPresti Cowl - broken nose gear door hinge

[Timothy Quigley]

Just bought into half a PA-24 260B with the LoPresti Wholly Cowl mod. On the last flight, the breaker popped when retracting the gear. I put the gear lever into the "down" position, reset the breaker, and flew at low speed back home. Upon landing, I noticed one of the hinges for the front lander gear door had broken (guessing that must have blocked retraction and popped the breaker).

Now the hard part now is tracking down a part to fix it. My mechanic contacted LoPresti. They don't have any parts on hand but offered to send drawings to have one machined locally. While we wait for the drawings, I'm just curious if anyone has any other suggestions (or spare parts).

It's the right side nose gear door and the hinge towards the rear that broke.

One other question...any thoughts on flying the plane without the nose gear doors in the interim? Would it be safe? Legal?

Thanks in advance,
Tim Q
Athens, GA

[N3322G]

Met a guy at Clifton, TX that brought his single in from AZ because he didn't think his local shop was doing the required work at annual on his LoPresti cowl. Don't know if that is your situation that caused this problem but it might be something to look into wrt the original problem. Good luck with the repairs.