Landing Gear Refurb

[N3322G]

Charles,

Too, too pretty, I'm envious of the appearance.

I'm assuming you adjusted the doors with the 9 lb weight etc.

I'm sure you will follow every line of the service manual without rushing the iterative process and double check with the Maurice Taylor video advice.

Wishing you all the best and getting it back in the air soon.

[Charles Schefer]

Thanks Pat, I'm anxious to get back in the air and Carol (my wife) isn't too happy to have the plane down so long. I am fortunate to have a spouse that enjoys flying and prefers that mode of travel.

Regarding the gear doors and adjusting to the "9 lb weight etc." yes we will do that and know about that. However the first step was making sure the doors fit flush. After following Matt Kurke's advice and notes along with a little of our own inginuity we have both doors fitting perfectly flush to the airframe. Turns out my original LH door had a hinge that was slightly bent. We should have figured that out BEFORE painting but didn't. We straightened the hinge on a metal break and now the front and rear rubber bumpers touch at exactly the same time and the door is beautiful flush. Even the new RH door (brand new from Piper surplus) needed adjustment to fit well. Also the new Piper door had a terribly loose hinge. Matt Kurke had a fix and sent me a kit which we used to install a new hinge pin and now it's perfect. So now I have two good perfectly fitting doors but unfortunately in the process of doing all this the hinges are no longer beautifully painted. The door paint is still perfect but not the airframe side of the hinge so I just shipped both doors back to the paint shop where they will be redone while we move on with the rest of the gear. As of this evening all three gear struts / trunnions are back in the plane but there's still a lot to do.

Regarding "I'm sure you will follow every line of the service manual without rushing the iterative process and double check with the Maurice Taylor video advice." - yes to the manual but I must confess I do not have the Maurice Taylor video. I've heard of it... where can I find a copy?

- Charles

[N3322G]

Hi Charles,

http://www.comancheflyer.com/NS/cff_merchandise.php

Above is the link or from the Home Page, CFF Tab, Then Merchandize, then scroll down. I find every time I watch these I learn something new ... or perhaps the last time I learned it, it leaked out during sleep.

[Charles Schefer]

[Charles Schefer]

A few end of day updated pics...

Left Main Gear Partial Reinstall

Left Main Gear Front View

Left Main Gear Fork with Brake mount installed

[N3322G]

Charles,

So pretty - if I were around your plane, I'd have to wash my hands, just to look at it

[Charles Schefer]

[jeffrey aryan]

Charles,

FANTASTIC and BEAUTIFUL,

Now that you have the learning curve down. How much would you charge to do mine ?


Jeff Aryan

[Charles Schefer]

[MULEFLY]

You know... when you had the mains off you could have had a couple of holes machined thru the bosses... then you could have mounted some HID lamps on the mains... Just joking you...

But when the next 1000 hour gear inspection comes up on 8982Y... I'm going to.

All the best!
Jim

[Charles Schefer]

[jeffrey aryan]

Charles,

Yes it was in jest (a little). I also have seen Matt's gear and asked him the same question with the same answer (There is a common thread here ? hmm). What you have done is just beyond words. I am thinking of doing my gear later this year and if you have any tips or information please let me know.

Congratulations, it's great work.

Jeff

[Charles Schefer]

[Charles Schefer]

[Charles Schefer]

A milestone today... After very very careful and patient rigging, checking, adjusting, and rechecking IAW the Service Manual and the helpful advice of expert ICS members... my PA-30 is resting comfortably back on it's own wheels. I'll post more pics later. I've made some fairly cool videos of the retraction and extension sequence taken from all sorts of angles - including inside the nose cowl with the canvas / vinyl nose wheel shield removed. Not sure there's a way I can post those here tho...

- Charles