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Switches
Well I went up to the shop and me and my mechanic went through a few cycles. Now that I see the motion up close, I can see just how finnicky the switch set up is. When the mains go into the locks and when the system is still pressurized hydraulically it puts quite a bit of extra upward pressure on the saddles and walks the gear leg away from the switch. With the mule it was not quite enough to make it deactivate the switch, but it was pretty close. We wonder if with more pressure from engine driven pump (versus mule) plus some slipstream, if this is de-activating the switch and causing the problem. The rigging of the mains in the saddles was checked and this was within spec. He brought the switch in closer so as to make it less likely to de-activate with upward pressure on the saddles. But the tradeoff is that when the gear unloads hydraulically and the legs settle into the saddles, you don't want too much inward pressure on the switch for fear of crushing the switch. There is a suggested 1/8 inch for rigging this (ie when unloaded). So basically we re-rigged the switches. It works fine with the mule (but it always did) and with the hand pump. Not enough time to get it back together and down from jacks, so that is the next step.
We still want to try to find out if it is correct that mains should remain pressurized while doors go into motion. There is nothing in the manual clearly spelling it out, so perhaps a phone call to the pack rebuilder can confirm.
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