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Art -
I had the exact problem you are describing when we
did the first few test flights in my IV-P
Long story short, in my case the cause
was air getting in the system because builder had mistakenly inserted one
plastic plugs in the unused opening of each of the main gear. This
also effected the way the nose gear retracted.
Amazing to all of us was that the retract test on
the gorund always worked perfectly.
It was not until all hydraulic pressure was lost in
flight, which caused another thorough inspection of the gear, that we saw the
plastic plugs.
The plastic plugs were replaced, fluid level
confirmed, and the gear has worked great ever since.
I strongly suggest you get a hydraulic pressure
gauge as you don't want too much pressure either.
I am certainly not the LML hydraulic expert, that
would be Bob P., but that would be my guess.
One other thing I found. - After
I flew the first 60 hours or so I the DOM at GAMI
noticed the nose gear micro switch hit the
oil pan. A little area which was repaired by an FAA mechanic with some JB
Weld. Fortunately, there is no pressure in the oil pan.
Fix was easy, mounted the micro-switch on the other side of gear leg.
Point is, micro-switch had made no contact with oil pan for almost 60 hours or
more.
Lastly, during my annual in May, we noticed that
the forward nose gear piston fitting had also contacted the oil
pan.
Same scenario, never did it before - ever.
This did not occur until I had flown for almost 85 hours.
We had to re-index the piston so that the fittings
were well clear of the oil pan.
I have no ides why the problems did not show up
much sooner but I make it a definite point during preflight to look into he nose
gear tunnel with a good flashlight. I also carry a tube of JB Weld
paste.
Hope this helps.
Craig Blitzer
798CB - 85 hours and almost
out of paint
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 11:38
PM
Subject: [LML] Landing Gear retract
I have a total of 45 hrs on my L IV and in that
time(accumulated since July 8th this year) I have on several
occasions had the gear not come up after take-off
I was
under the assumption that it was probable because
I was
a little over 120kts and slowed down and recycled
the
gear and they would come up fine. On Sept. 1st
took-off
to fly to Redmond and the gear would not come up
after
3 tries, I landed and put the plane away and
drove. On my
return I jacked the plane up and cycled the gear
6 times
and they worked fine, someone listening to the
hydraulic
pump said it sounded like it was not producing
enough
pressure so I turned up the pressure until I
could hear the
pump lug down more toward the end of the cycle
and it
ran longer as well. I flew again today to test
the gear and
the gear would not come up my 3 green gear
down lights
went out (where as on the 1st the left main gear
light stayed
on) but was confirmed from the ground that the
nose gear
did retract but the main just seem to hang
straight down but would not come up into the wheel wells. I
would
appreciate any ideas or thoughts.
Regards
Art
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