LML,
My nose strut, an old Esco unit, released a bunch of oil during the past year while I have been working on the plane. So I removed the strut to send off to Lancair for a rebuild. I would try it myself, but from what I have read the seals are not available so I must send it to Lancair.
The Problem:
So, here is a video of what I found when I removed the strut.
http://www.n54sg.com/video/nose_gear.mp4
With the nose gear installed completely, no play was noticeable in any of the parts. But as you can see in the video, the over center link has tons of play in the center pivot bolt hole. The nose strut itself does not allow any lateral play so I am a bit confused as to how it elongated the hole.
Solution?:
The easy fix would be $240 worth of Lancair parts, but will it happen again?
Insert a bushing?
I don't think there is enough material to drill the hole for the next size bolt, although that would be a beautiful fix...
My only other idea is that there is an alignment mis-match between the top of the nose gear link pivot, and the pivot of the nose gear itself. During the retract it puts things in a bind causing premature wear. Thus if I remove all of the "play" in the link itself, will it retract without binding?
Or, is this totally normal?
Just FYI, I didn't build this airplane and it has about 700 airframe hours.
Tom McNerney