Rick,
 I had the same failure several years ago.  Looking at the fracture
surface using a Scanning Electron Microscope revealed very poor quality
metal with lots of inclusions.  There was some sign of low cycle fatigue
a the first thread root, but the primary mode of failure was fracture.
The identical replacement has not failed(yet).  On the bright side, the
failure showed that the inner gear door can handle 200kts while hanging
freely.  At a later annual I replaced the rod end bearing for the main
gear with higher strength units.  Same dimensions but more than twice
the strength.  All of the original units supplied are a low carbon
steel.  The Aurora AM series uses a heat treated steel alloy and is a
drop in replacement at about twice the cost.
Chris Zavatson
N91CZ
360std

>>> RICARGENTE@cs.com 01/21/03 10:08AM >>>
During the preflight inspection, I discovered that the pilot-side inner
gear door was dangling freely.  The rod end bearing from the inner gear
door hydraulic cylinder was sheared off completely.  I have never heard
of this failure before and was wondering if anybody on the list have had
the same failure.  Any ideas how this could have occurred?  Kinda
unusual failure, uh?

Rick Argente
LNC2 N360ZR


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