Post by anatole on Nov 21, 2018 11:20:05 GMT -9
We have had an intermittent gear unsafe (not fully retracting) problem of late.
The normal maintenance facility we use who are PA31 specialists could not fit us in so I went to our other maintenance provider who does not have a hydraulic mule.
We found both main gear outer doors very tight - and this may well be what caused the problem.
In the course of this we were retracting the gear using hand pump with the main outer doors unattached, and the LH main gear would come within 1/2" off uplock hook, but go no further.
It always required a little assistance from outside to get it to lock.
This main gear is all new, installed 150 hours ago after a truck(!) hit the gear while landing.
I'm wondering if there could be a rigging issue in main gear, or simply the hand pump was never designed to have enough grunt to fully retract the main gear.
The normal maintenance facility we use who are PA31 specialists could not fit us in so I went to our other maintenance provider who does not have a hydraulic mule.
We found both main gear outer doors very tight - and this may well be what caused the problem.
In the course of this we were retracting the gear using hand pump with the main outer doors unattached, and the LH main gear would come within 1/2" off uplock hook, but go no further.
It always required a little assistance from outside to get it to lock.
This main gear is all new, installed 150 hours ago after a truck(!) hit the gear while landing.
I'm wondering if there could be a rigging issue in main gear, or simply the hand pump was never designed to have enough grunt to fully retract the main gear.
