In the middle of this year’s annual on a LNC2 (N360JM) and I have two questions.

1) The plane is on jacks and when I run the free-fall gear test, it stops before the overcenter link finishes. Pulled the bolt on the over-center link and all indications are that the Matco hydraulic cylinder is sticking as everything else swings very free. The kit was started in ‘91 and started flying in ‘99. I changed out the hydraulic fluid last year during the annual (the pump plastic tank was splitting.) and used new bulk fluid, type 41, from Aircraft Spruce. Do the cylinder seals go bad around this time frame on Matcos? If so, can I get just the elastomer parts and rebuild myself or is it a factory job only?

2) In a similar vein, it appears the Matco brake pucks are also sticking. So same question – do they tend to go bad around this time frame?

Thanks,
Charles Patton