Landing Techniques
 

When I am in the plane with a friend in the front seat, and no one/nothing in the rear, we are near the forward cg limit. I'm a big guy (ex football player) and so are most of my friends. I've noticed that before landing, I run out of nose up trim, and the aircraft's nose becomes very heavy, making a smooth, coordinated landing flare more difficult than it should be. I've been told to increase my speed, leave more power in on the front engine, and some other things. What are your thoughts?

BTW, My Bonanza never had any such issue, but you had to be VERY careful not to put too much weight in the back or it would be out of CG. 337 is almost impossible to get out of CG. So everything is a trade-off I guess.

Sounds like you might have a problem with the flap/trim system. It can break or not be rigged correctly. A quick test (on the ground) is put full flaps down, then trim nose all the way up. Then retract flaps to zero; the trim wheel should start spinning on its own. If it doesn’t then it’s probably broken.

Flap/Trim Interaction
 

From what I have seen/ run into during my 1.5 year annual and what Skymaster337B is pointing out is that on my P337H the trim will not go past the lower half of the takeoff range unless the flaps are selected to full down. I do not personally know if this applies to all versions of the Skymaster. So the first question is, Were you landing with full Flaps or not. With that answer, you can go ahead troubleshoot some more.

Also on an extended annual, discovered my flap trim interconnect cable was frozen in it's sheath severely limiting pitch trim. Replaced with new. 50 yrs of grease had dried solid. Check cable for movement.

Properly operational, you will discover your trim is affected by amount of flaps selected as stated.

Cg
 

It is hard to get a Skymaster out of CG. I suggest you get it checked out by repair shop. It may be cable problem.

Pitch is just MUCH heavier than what I'm used to coming out of Bonanza, and the cg was almost at the forward limit. Reminds me of my C172 days, when it was always easier to get a greaser if you had someone in the back seat! :cool:

Sooo....

when I got my 337 it flew "fine" but control forces seemed "heavy" compared to anything else I had flown (all singles). Called a friend who had also owned 337 in past and discussed and he said to expect heavier control forces, his experience. So shook it off but still questioned.

Fast forward to extended annual where we took apart EVERYTHING. Discovered a frozen pulley rubbing a control line. discovered the frozen flaps-trim interconnect cable, limiting trim especially nose up trim. But most importantly, disconnected the control connections of the 400 series autopilot at which point, wah-la, huge freedom of movement, much lighter control forces. The grease in the gearing of the servos had hardened and turning of the servos with control movements (and later by hand once removed) was incredibly stiff. Totally different control forces now that autopilot mechanicals
are disconnected. I could see where stiff elevator control might be interpreted as "heavy pitch". I sure was thinking same thing.

Check rigging and check autopilot servo freedom of movement

After you've checked your trim/ I recommend you land with more power on the front engine a few times.
When I was flying a lot of air shows I could keep the front nose wheel off the ground almost forever with proper power management, at the same time managing power just on the front engine with proper trim allow me to perfect my Landings even more.
Have fun