Gear Circuit Breaker Popped

[tomcomet]

On today's flight to four airports I had the gear breaker pop twice upon selecting gear down. The gear "looked" to be down but no green light (obviously). Both times I was able to manually reset the gear breaker and cycle the gear UP then DOWN to get a green light and a successful and happy landing.

I have read through some of the older posts here RE gear problems. Tomorrow I will attempt to pump the gear doors open on the ground and have a good look inside to see if I have any frayed wires or dirty switches or contacts etc. Any other ideas??

[hharney]

Maybe try replacing the circuit breaker first as it's cheaper than the second option would be the pump motor. Doesn't sound like a gear or door issue. Did you have a heavy electrical load at the time?

[tomcomet]

Originally Posted by hharney

Maybe try replacing the circuit breaker first as it's cheaper than the second option would be the pump motor. Doesn't sound like a gear or door issue. Did you have a heavy electrical load at the time?

Electrical load was not heavy. Daytime VFR flight.
Yes to new circuit breaker!! I like cheap fixes IF they work!

TC

[JAG]

Hi Tom,

I am not an expert on the Skymaster, but an AME/A&P for quite a few years, so I will offer a couple other spots to look at that are even cheaper than a CB.

If the gear pops its CB, it means that it is drawing a higher current as it works against electrical resistance, and will not be dependant on any other system. Things that can cause it to work harder to heat up and pop the CB:
- corrosion on connector (or bad connection)
- corrosion in a crimp of a connecter
- bad or loose ground (I always check grounds first - it is the simplest and most often the offending party).

Check the wires on the motor and at the CB. It may take a bit of work, but is cheaper than replacing any parts.

I think you already filled the system too - so that would eliminate any pump cavitation issues (I am really stabbing in the dark here, as I am not well studies on the power pack).

Anyway, hopefully some of this may help.
Jeff

[LostKiwi]

Im a big fan of punting the 40+ year old circuit breakers.
Like Herb said, it's a good place to start. I've found a bunch of CB's that were no bueno. Punt the lot of them. Go to the Klixon's.


The emergency proceedures in the operators manual specifically state to pull the CB if you have to. The Cessna CB's don't allow that.




Leighton.

[tomcomet]

Originally Posted by LostKiwi

Go to the Klixon's.

I like the idea of being able to disable circuits as I wish and I too noticed how most of my CBs do not currently allow this. I will look into upgrading to the Klixon's for sure. Thanks!