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