Last minute trouble with landing gear

04-08-2009, 12:45 AM

mike reibing | Last minute trouble withy landing gear

Tonight I was trying to finish up my annual before leaving for Sun N Fun and I came across two problems with my seawind. The first one is a broken hydraulic ram that lowers the main gear. The eye bolt broke right off while I had it jacked up and was test cycling the gear.

Does anyone know where I can get one quickly?

The second problem.

I saw the bracket that the two rams mount to move when I was cycling the gear. Because I didn't build it I don't know what it really should look like. It appears to me that this may be under built. I only saw one layer of glass. Could this be right? It seems to me if there are two rams connected to this it should be built alot beefier. Does anyone have any comments or better yet a good fix.

Mike Reibling

04-08-2009, 04:54 PM

Tony Jurcan | Landing gear trouble

Unable to help with replacing actuator, posibly Planemakers could help. When these actuators are installed they need to be adjusted to allow for flexing in the middeck.

The attachment bracket is bolted to middeck and should not move. This banana shaped bracket should be sandwiched between glass layups on each side and bolted in several places.

I hope this helps.

Tony Jurcan

04-18-2009, 01:30 PM

mike reibing | Gear problem

Thanks for your reply Tony, Yours looks much the same as mine. Maybe the problem is my rod ends were not adjusted right and put extra stress on the mount or maybe it was the hydraulic switch that would stick when I first purchased the plane. It would stick and the pressure would exceed 2000psi. I now have a new switch that is currently set to 1600psi which seems to work. But is 1600 where it should be? Could this still be to high?

As I write this I am anxiously waiting for the weather to break so my wife and I can fly down to Sun N Fun and also meet the guys at Plane Makers. We had planned to leave today.

Mike Reibling