Gentlemen and Ladies,

 

Here I sit, trapped in a January thunderstorm (huh?) with lightning, flooding, fog, power outages and other useless weather related phenomena – but it’s not as bad as parts of California.  Metaphysical side note:  If you think you’ve got it bad, don’t fret, somebody else has got it worse.  Complaining sustains mental balance…….

 

235s were built with 235 construction manuals.  Early 320/360s were built with poorly modified 235 manuals.  Then along came the so-called “Fast Builds,” and a new manual along with an update procedure.  Thus, some pages were appropriately changed as the kit run and its components moved forward.  All this is well and good but one must be most careful when applying techniques, parts or measurements from manuals mismatched to the airplane.  As options came out, installation instructions were issued and later incorporated into manual updates.

 

Anyway, back to the rat-trap springs, hereafter referred to RTS.  RTS is a significant example to point out the differences betwixt airplanes even though they share the same ATC code, in this case, LNC2.

 

Bill and Dan elected to stay with the original screen door springs to lock the over center link.  Dan correctly pointed out that an early batch of RTS were failure prone.  Jim has related instructions he has for RTS retro fits.  Ray sent us a picture of a 320 FB revision dated 1-23-96 showing a great deal of detail for the RTS install including dimensions required for the locking hole, the standoff size on the leg and the size and placement of certain washers.  Alain has requested to see a copy of Jim’s install instructions – Maybe he’s intrigued, as I am, about the fact that some of us don't appear to have the inside washer, at least certainly not a “big” one.  Maybe we have old legs (gear legs, not the old ones on my body) that don't match the specs in the FB manual.

 

I don't remember when I replaced the screen door springs with the RTS (but long before the first flight), but they have operated thru more than 750 cycles without a hiccup.  Here, take a look at this picture although you must ignore the dirt splashed all over and the leftover September bug goo still on the leg – I do fly from time to time and the other leg is just as dirty:

 

 

 

Note that there is a proper washer covering the rod end as all rod ends should be encased.  See if you can find Waldo – oops, I meant the other rod end with a covering washer.

 

Lastly, for LNC2 users, ‘twould be nice if the vintage was known.  I am changing my signature to indicate SB for “slow build” and 89/96 to indicate that the kit is circa 1989, first flown in 1996.  This may help in understanding some of the differences we see.