REFLECTOR: NOSE WHEEL GOT SIDEWAYS

[Ron Brown]

I had a similar occurrence - except in my case the 1" long set screw that is 
used to connect the two links to the
actuating piston broke in half.

I assumed that I had my gear doors adjusted too tightly - so I loosened them 
some to reduce the tension on the system.  I adjusted my doors tighter last 
year - perhaps 40 hours ago.

This happened about three flights ago - after 160 hours of flying with no 
problems.  So I don't have any idea if the tight adjustment was the problem. 
I don't think it was a crooked nose wheel in my case.

Ronnie



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Martino" <tmartino at troubleshooter.com>
To: <reflector at www.tvbf.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:59 PM
Subject: REFLECTOR: NOSE WHEEL GOT SIDEWAYS


Something unusual happened to me today in flight ... but fortunately, it
didn't cause any major problems.



I am not sure why it happened or what to do to prevent it ... so I ask
all of you ...



I was doing touch-and-goes.  On my last take-off ... I noticed the nose
gear hadn't retracted.  So I lowered the gear (got greens) and landed.



The nose gear door actuator has a "T" fitting screwed into the end of
the shaft which connects to the gear door rods (which open and close the
door).



The "T" had snapped off the end of the actuator shaft.



>From what I surmised ... the nose gear got sideways and grabbed the nose
gear doors on the way up (during retraction) and got wedged outside the
doors.  As it pulled the doors up with a lot of force (while the door
actuator was still extended) it snapped the "T" fitting off the end of
the shaft.



The only damage is the "T" fitting (which I lost in flight) and the rod
of the actuator which has a screw snapped off inside it.



Has anyone ever head o this happening?



Either I retracted my gear too soon, or the nose fork is too tight on
the spindle.



Any thoughts?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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