I did my retract test today on my Legacy. Every thing works fine except, on extension, the left main hits the door. It pushes it out of the way and exstends,then the door fully opens.Several of the tech people at Lancair said this is normal on some aircraft, and to live with it.I don't like any interferance with the gear.

Any thoughts?

Bill,

 

The main problem with powering the gear down is the tremendous volume of hydraulic fluid that must be transferred from the high pressure side (up) to the low pressure side (down) of each actuating cylinder thru the pump.  This can lead to the starvation of some actuators since the large capacity main gear actuators are pulled down by the weight of the gear and, especially, the nose gear gas spring.  A sticky door actuator, a crooked door hinge, a restricted fluid route or a weak actuator spring could contribute to this event.

 

During flight, at gear down air speed, the nose gear may be slowed down enough to eliminate this problem.

 

Try the emergency gear drop and see if the result is different.  In this case, the fluid exchange takes place thru the inactive pump and dump valve.

 

In my airplane it is not unusual for the nose wheel to push the nose gear door out of the way - same problem with the scratches to boot.

 

There is never a problem on retraction because the door actuators are not energized until the gear is almost tucked away.