Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net> (Marvin Kaye)
To: lml
Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 20:26:16 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-1252318@logan.com>
From: RWolf99@aol.com
Subject: 320 Nose Gear
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For Lorn Olsen and others with nose gear alternate extension problems --

Sorry about the delay in responding.  If your gas strut doesn't push down the 
nose gear, the first thing to check is whether the gear is binding around the 
pivot.  After you've parked, push the tail down to take the weight off the 
nose gear.  Disconnect the drag link from the strut so the nose strut hangs 
freely.  Pull the gear strut forward until it just contacts the sleeve that 
goes around the 1/4 inch bolt between the 2-inch bearing blocks.  Let go.

If the nose strut does not swing freely like a pendulum on a string, you've 
got the same problem that I had in 1995 and wrote about in the LNN.  I cut my 
sleeve too short so there was excessive preload on the bearings and 
consequently too much friction.  I bought a new sleeve from Vern for $4.50 
and redid the trim job.  Now it swings freely and the gas strut can push the 
nose gear down.

Lorn seems to have solved the problem by milling off a little from the strut, 
but the longer sleeve would probably have been a simpler solution with the 
same end result.

Note that this will not help you if your problem is that the gas strut has 
deflated.

- Rob Wolf