Here’s a note from Lon Kelley regarding his ES motor mount issues. I hope these pictures will encourage you all to examine closely … very closely … your motor mount. Personally I don’t see how there wasn’t a very serious accident because of this problem … Lon and Pam were just plain lucky.
Jim Nordin
Jim, here is some information on the recently discovered engine mount problems in my ES. The pictures are attached and show some major breaks and widespread cracking in the welds. It is my opinion that these cracks indicate improper welding procedures in my mount, and there may also be a problem in other early ES mounts. I have not got any professional opinion on the welds, and really don't intend to, but the cracks all appear to be in the heat-affected zone adjacent to the weld, and this is the area of concern in most high carbon material where embrittlement might occur.
I believe these cracks have been there for a long time, and we missed them during inspections. My only excuse for this is that they wouldn't be visible under the paint. What led to my finding them was some very rough taxiing at Sun N Fun, Oshkosh and a rough grass strip this summer. At the last oil change I specifically wanted to look at the nose-gear mount, and feel very lucky that we took the bottom cowling off, and I stuck my nose down there and chipped some paint back. Of course the two broken members were pretty obvious if you were looking. My plane has 1225 hours and this mount was made in 1994.
Incidentally, we sent our strut back to Lancair in about 1999, and Vern rebuilt it. We have not experienced serious shimmy with it, and I don’t believe the weld cracks are associated with shimmy. Lon Kelley