News from N2334S
 

Well guys I got the tailbooms off and loaded the plane sideways on a trailer and transported it 40 miles to its new home in a hangar while we work out the kinks from the belly landing. I'll try and post pics of the move if I can figure out how to do it. KD

9-21-12 I have the plane fully depanelled and the interior stripped out and have a few questions.
1) Just how involved is the removal of the power pack? NTSB wants it for testing/teardown so I was wondering how extensive it is to remove. From looking up in there, it looks like a lot of hydraulic lines with little or no remove to remove them from the unit. So any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

2) I noticed on pulling my ARC-400 control panel out that it has provisions for a heading knob on the right side of the panel face. I was always under the understanding that to have heading it would be a ARC-401. Can the 400 be adapted in anyway to actually hold a heading? From a GPS? A VOR?

3) Has anyone removed the landing gear from a plane recently? I would like to sent them off for powdercoating along with the wheels. I know it need to be raised some from normal height to rotate the gear in order to get to the bold on top of the gear. Just how much does it need to be raised. We are talking to completely swing the gear just enough to get them off.

Any help with any of these questions would be greatly appreciated. KD

No help.
 

I am curious..........have I somehow done something to upset you all? I have posted several questions to this forum asking for help and advice and have received "it's in the manual" as the only semblance of help. What gives? I thought this was a forum where I would be able to tap in to a wealth of knowledge on a sheared love for Skymasters. Now it only seems that I haven't learned the secret handshake in order to be in the club. I wish I was wrong but the silence is deafening. Kd

Sorry. I was on the road and didn't have the info in front of me. This forum is a hit and miss at times so it will take longer sometimes to get the response you are looking for. I was just quickly checking to see if you had the service manual as I have never actually R n R'ed a rear engine totally. I have lifted it up off the mount to replace mounts. Your answer may be available in the manual as that specific process would be included as a primary step. I can send the pages if you need but with the work you are doing I would assume you have a service manual. That's the best I can do.

There are some cautions about what and how to treat the spring main gear. I would be careful about any modifications or process's with the spring steel. There was some interesting articles about Cessna spring gear and treatments that I have seen on the web. Guys were even concerned about sanding techniques. I am not a metalologous so I don't have all the answers but just have seen some concerns. In most paint shops the process is chemical strip.

Hard to believe that just sandblasting could do anything to the metal characteristics, but like you, I am no metallurgist. I could see an argument for the powdercoating given its in an oven at 450 for 15 minutes. I just liked the hardness and wearability of the powder-coating vs regular paint. Don't see where it could do any harm to the wheels though. And even to the front wheel strut. Its not much but would look much nicer cleaned up. KD

Metallurgist checking in...

Abrasive removal methods do have the prospect of excessive heat input. I would worry more about flap sanding wheels and the like than the blasting methods but abrasive is abrasive. A skilled blaster using something gentle like plastic media is probably best. Back when I worked for an Aerospace OEM we used plastic media blast and it was very gentle. Gentle enough that on simple geometry parts you could sometimes remove just the topcoat and most of the primer without penetrating the cadmium plating (which is softer than butter).

Chemical stripping is the best, no doubt. But the EPA will scream bloody murder over what you need to use.

Plastic media blast. Not glass bead. Certainly not aluminum oxide. Plastic media.

New Findings From more complete inspection of Landing Gear after gea Up landing
 

Today myself and an AI started work on 34S not only to begin putting her back together after we pulled the back engine and tailbooms but also to begin her Annual. He was looking things over near the landing gear actuator and noticed one of the shear pins attached next to the universal joints had sheared off. A look inside the hole that the sheared pin left showed that the shaft inside the collar had rotated appx. half of the hole diameter. A look at the other side showed that one of the two shear pins in the inboard side had also sheared off and shifted appx. half of the hole diameter. The remaining shear pins on on each side (two at each point inboard and outboard) were still intact in the universal joint but with further inspection and removal I would tend to believe they are sheared as well but just remained in the hole vs falling out.
The question to you all is could this have caused my problem in the beginning vs the power pack. A scenario I am thinking of has the pins finally shearing the last time the gear were cycled into the up position. Once that occurred and the gear lever was moved to the down position the gear simply flopped out of the wheel well and dangled there. When we tried to pump them down and the hand pump was so stiff, that was because the power pack was also trying to put them down as well but could not due to the shear pins be sheared.
So any thoughts as to this scenario? I guess one way to check is to get it up on stands and then hook up to a mule and cycle the gear handle. IF I can see the inner portion of the gear actuator spinning in there with no movement of the gear, then it would be safe to assume that the shear pins caused the failure. IF the actuator does not move, then it is back to the power pack for trouble shooting.
Again, any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. KD

Can you post some photos to help get us oriented.
Thanks,
Gord

Will try this weekend when I go home. KD

Need Pictures of rear engine.
 

I have the engine re-installed in the back but my mechanic is at a standstill with some of the wiring and tubing. He did not remove the engine so he needs pictures of a turbo rear engine so he can match up everything correctly. Any pictures of a rear engine turbo with the cowlings off. Thanks in advance for any help you can be for this. KD