Just wanted to say THANK YOU! to everyone who provided support and advice to me around my recent starter adapter failure.
With the help of some engineers today, I managed to retrieve the adapter without lifting / removing the engine. If its of any help to anyone else who has to sort this out, here's what we did:-
- Acquired a 8mm concentric stud remover (this is 25 thou over 5/16th) - a Stanley product (chrom van) [NB: tried the double, indeed triple, locked nuts trick on the long stud but it just would not budge]
- There was not enough room due clearance from firewall or nose gear door gas strut to be able to use the 1/2" drive on this tool when trying to remove the extra long left hand side lower rear facing stud, so used a 21mm open ended spanner on the body of the tool [couldn't use a ring spanner as again – in my case – the gas strut was in the way] – could have used an angle grinder to cut down the tool a bit, but an open end spanner worked OK - just
- It took a while, but eventually by "bouncing" on the stud with the tool torqued up, the long stud eventually broke loose
- Even after disconnecting the fuel return and supply hoses, and one of the nose gear hydraulic lines, we weren't able to withdraw the adapter such that it cleared the upper left hand side rear facing stud
- Pushed the adapter back into position, and used the stud extractor tool to remove the top rear facing stud – had to grip on the threads though
- Having removed both studs, the adapter was easily removed
- Detached the power grid to improve access
- Didn't have to remove lower cowl
Attached pics show how it all looked once the thing came out.
My adapter only has 90hrs on it, so plan is – subject to inspection – to machine the shaft and fit an appropriate size replacement spring and reinstall with a new gasket etc and with bolts instead of studs on the left hand side – so if the adapter fails again – it should only be a 20 minute job to get it out instead of 3 hours!
As I replaced the Iskra starter 20hrs ago with a Skytec ST3, I plan to reinstall the ST3.
Regards,
John
John N G Smith
Tel / fax: +61-8-9385-8891
Mobile: +61-409-372-975
Email: john@jjts.net.au