Gear Doors Don't Retract on 66 337A

Jim:

As a follow up, here's the status.

IA took it in and checked all of the switches, cleaned them, and put everything back. Of course . . . it worked on the mule. And of course, the next time I flew it . . . it didn't.

So, it was off to chase electrical gremlins. And he chased, and he chased, and he chased it, right to the "power pack" as everyone calls it. On my bird, it is located just above the left side of the pilot's feet. This is a monstrous piece of equipment. The electrical tests showed that one of the solenoids on the pack was bad.

Cessna quoted to my IA 160 days lead time, $6,000. No, that's NOT a type for a 2" x 1" cylinder solenoid. Ahh, but the financial news got better. IA found a used core that had to be overhauled. . . punchline, for just that little solenoid, $1,800, not including overhaul. And people think lawyers don't have a conscience!

Fortunately, I just purchased another 337A as a parts plane, and its solenoid worked fine. It was, shall we say, a challenge, to remove it, but, we got it out without damage. Crisis and 2d mortgage averted!

I haven't flown it since then. I'm going to Ohio Friday afternoon, so I'll find out sometime Thursday afternoon or Friday a.m. before I leave if it really works.

The ONLY good news from this is that I now know that my entire system has been revamped and cleaned, including hydraulics, contacts, switches, fluid, etc. so hopefully, the gear gremlins will leave me alone for a long time.

That's the latest and greatest.

Keven
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LovelyWendie