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Front Strut - Have you checked it lately?


Runtoeat

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FWIW, you might consider doing yourself a favor by having your front strut inspected, cleaned and greased.  If this is not done regularly, there is a risk of causing wear to the slot which the alignment pin runs in.  You do not want any wear to this slot.  The "fix" might be a new front strut which costs $2,800.  FD used to sell just the tube which contains the slots but they no longer do this.  They sell only the whole assembly that includes the lower portion which holds the front wheel.

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Easy to inspect. Have someone push the tail down to raise the nose about 1" off the ground then just see if there is any side to side free play or up and down free play. If you have side to side free play of more than about 3/8" then the pin may need some work. If you have any up and down free play then the red spacers need replacement. These are normal wear items and longevity can depend some on how the aircraft is used.

 

i do this inspection as part of a pre flight check. Just grab the prop in by the spinner and lift the nose up and down and see if the front end is firm in its up and down motion. (no free play) I take my foot and move the nose wheel left and right. Hopefully no free play.

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Easy to inspect. Have someone push the tail down to raise the nose about 1" off the ground then just see if there is any side to side free play or up and down free play. If you have side to side free play of more than about 3/8" then the pin may need some work. If you have any up and down free play then the red spacers need replacement. These are normal wear items and longevity can depend some on how the aircraft is used.

 

i do this inspection as part of a pre flight check. Just grab the prop in by the spinner and lift the nose up and down and see if the front end is firm in its up and down motion. (no free play) I take my foot and move the nose wheel left and right. Hopefully no free play.

Roger,

Didn't you have a video on this at one time? I think I recall seeing one.

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My calf muscles started to grow around my 60th birthday.  I eventually figured it out and had Jeremy lube my nose gear, now they are shrinking back to a normal size.

And all this time I thought you were 30ish. Why is that? . . . . . :)
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Typically the pin will wear first, before the slot will. If you know a REALLY good machinist, FD does allow the slot to be re-machined and reworked if wear is not significant.

 

As part of our 100 hrs, we check the strut for ease of movement and play. The bearings that FD designed for the nose strut leave something to be desired, as grease tends to easily be pushed away from the plain bearings, so every 100 to 200 hours, we have to take the strut off and throw some more aeroshell 6 on. While it's off, I take a quick look at the pin and re-grease as well.

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Maybe it was the yellow plane named after a Snoopy character?

 

I did not name her Woodstock, others did and the name stuck much to my objections.  Next the FD had the graphics made and installed during a condition inspection.  I realized I couldn't fight it so I accepted it.

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Anticept, you wrote - "Typically the pin will wear first, before the slot will. If you know a REALLY good machinist, FD does allow it to be re-machined if wear is not significant."

 

I am confused.  How does "re-machining" restore the original pin dimensions once it is worn?  I thought machining removed material.  

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I meant the slot. The pins are cheap.

 

There's more than just machining done to parts. There are additive machining techniques which add metal back to the part in question. You can use some welding and machining to add back material and polish it back down too.

 

These methods do require minimal damage though. As in, a little bit of wear, not a gash. Once it's pretty damaged, it becomes unpredictable if the part will hold up.

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Andy, they are not visible unless the nose gear strut is disassembled.  If you have the big CTsw parts and assembly manual, they are shown in the "Nose wheel rotation unit" and "Strut, Nose Gear" diagrams, page 106 and page 111 (Rel 5, Issue 21, January 2008).

fg

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Andy, they are not visible unless the nose gear strut is disassembled.  If you have the big CTsw parts and assembly manual, they are shown in the "Nose wheel rotation unit" and "Strut, Nose Gear" diagrams, page 106 and page 111 (Rel 5, Issue 21, January 2008).

fg

 

Thanks Fred.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Andy, I found some photo's of the front strut.  Not shown is the pin which rides in the slot.  The hole in the left part accepts this pin.  It is flatted on each side and these flats are the bearing surface which slides in the slot in the right hand part.

post-24-0-36266000-1407504645_thumb.jpg

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