John,
I like your test rig! MUCH safer than what I have been doing. …and no, I won’t describe the process. Let me just say that I have risked getting impaled by the end of the operating rod…
L
I plan to switch to your method this year!
I bought a replacement strut in 2009 for the first condition inspection, as mine first flew in 2008 but had been sitting around the shop for 8 years during
building. The original tested OK at just under 100#, and continues to do so. I have therefore not changed it out, but try to perform an in-flight emergency extension every 3 months or so, and I disconnect and test the strut at each annual. Sooner or later,
I will need to install the “spare,” …assuming it’s not gone bad while laying around.
Bob
From: Lancair
Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of John Smith
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:42 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: NG Gas strut
I put a new gas strut on my nose gear this January.
But before I installed it, I tested its load capacity and recorded that. A wee bit over spec.
The old one – I tested that. I found its load capacity to be just over 90% of its design spec. Supplied with the kit
in May 2008; first used for flight operations in Dec 2010 and removed just over 3 yrs later after somewhere around 200 retract / extend cycles.
For $20 or so, its prob a no brainer……..but prob not necessary to do every annual based on my observations so far. Having
said that, that was just one strut history. So I'll remove the one I just put in, next January, and I'll test again to see how its load capacity compares to how it was when I installed it. But my system of maintenance now states - "test gas struts each 2
years; replace gas struts if capacity less than 90% of specification".
Testing is simple – 1/2 hour or so to make up a test beam with a 2:1 leverage; and test load with electronic fish scales
anchored with a clamp so no wobbling! I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways to do this…but this seemed to work fine for me. See attached pic.
John
John N G Smith
Tel / fax: +61-8-9385-8891
Mobile: +61-409-372-975
Email: john@jjts.net.au
Does anyone change the nose gear gas strut as a matter of routine maintenance, e.g., at an annual, or biennially etc?