Timothy.Perkins(at)uvm.ed
Guest
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 Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:07 am Post subject: Leg Gear Plate |
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ron dewees wrote:
| Quote: | > Jim Pellen's 601HD
> that lost a gear leg failed at the weld, altho a thicker plate than
> our 1/8 inch may have helped, or at least encouraged the welder to
> lay a thicker bead on the joint. I used aprox 3/16" angle iron from
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Hi All,
At least in the cases I know of (including my own on June 13, 2006), the
weld itself did NOT fail (see attached). It is the gear plate (the original
1/8" plate on some HD and HDS models) which fails. It can make for a
somewhat interesting, but relatively short ride.
The fix suggested by my A&P, and approved by Nick, is to cut off the
existing 1/8" plates just above the welds and weld new 1/4" plates onto the
leg ends. Of course that's in addition to the estimated $15k in repairs
needed to get my plane airworthy again.
I'll also note that although we were aware of the issue (and discussed
adding gussets), there was no visible sign of a problem at the annual in
mid-April 2006. Thus I made the decision NOT to do anything other than
inspect (as recommended). In retrospect....it was clearly not the way to go.
If I were doing it again, I'd at least gusset it, or weld a new plate on, or
try the sleeve-type fix somebody suggested earlier. It may be a pain...but I
know the alternative quite well at this point....and it's a lot worse.
It appears that the gear plate gets stressed, bends, eventually cracks and
fails. Put a straightedge across the front and rear of each gear plate to
check and see if there is any bend. Mine (after failure) had about a
1.0-1.5mm upward bend along the edges in the center. Not really noticeable
by eye.
Tim Perkins
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