It’s common to overlook and possibly not fully comprehend the Mooney Nose gear truss condition. Depending on the weight of the Mooney model, the Shock discs are a life-limited component that continuously compresses over time.
The Lord shocks typically last 13 years, and the types M20 A through M20J weigh less than two thousand pounds. Models starting with the Mooney M20K may compress below limitations in 5 months due to their weight. The Service Manual has increased the compression limit to enable more extended usage.
On both the mains and Mooney Nose gear truss, the disc compression is determined by the amount of space or lack thereof under the collar at the top of the shock link.
You could observe that the long bodies seem to be dragging their tails, which is typical because the weight of the long bodies causes more extreme compression of the leading gear shock biscuits.
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Criteria To Determine If Replacement Is Necessary
We give the Mooney Nose Gear Truss around 25 minutes to decompress before lifting the Mooney off the ground to check if they will partially return their size, which is required to evaluate whether replacement is needed.
It is dangerous to let discs get old because they tire and can’t fully extend the lower leg. Things that could occur:
- It’s possible that the Gear Extension Safety switch won’t work correctly.
- The potential for the shock spacer plate at the top of the disc stack to rotate to a location where Mooney Nose Gear Truss might come into contact with the wheel well’s main spars retract mechanism and prohibit gear retraction.
- That can result in a series of popped circuits.
- Breaker and failure to retract the landing Mooney Nose Gear Truss.
- When retracted, gear legs that haven’t fully extended risk misaligning with the gear door, mating fairings, and damaging the gear.
- Aged and hardened discs may not appear in error, but they no longer absorb shock during landing or taxiing.
Mechanism Of Mooney Nose Gear Truss
Mooney’s nose gear Truss has gained expertise in this aircraft field. Compared to other areas, especially Speed Mods, Mooney nose gear Truss has the most STCs and PMA parts certified for repairing and enhancing the Mooney nose gear.
The Nose Gear has several moving parts because it must steer, pivot, bend to absorb shock, retract, close the gear doors, support more than 650 pounds of static weight on a single pivot bolt, and allow for towing.
All Mooney came up with a creative design, but it is challenging to perfect because it is still vulnerable to over-steering damage, denting of the truss tubes, and wear from steel-on-steel contact during pivot motion.
To restore the item to new tolerances and provide a longer lifespan, LASAR repaired leg trusses have wear areas built up and re-machined before being heat-treated. Regular nose gear maintenance and care can increase the lifespan of its parts, but they are frequently neglected or wear signs go unnoticed. Mooney Nose Gear Truss Rebuilds
The perky tail-up look enhances the controllability of takeoff and taxis. The discs in the early, lighter models could eventually get more complicated and develop surface cracks. In this condition, it would be savvy to review the date of production molded onto the disc to decide its age.
In the previous 40 years, Mooney nose gear truss has rebuilt over 8000 nose gear leg trusses, and an undetermined number of steering horns have been delivered to us as exchange replacements. Due to wear and slop between the rudder pedals and the nose wheel, the restored steering horns are brought.
The Mooney Nose Gear Truss Gets Replacement Parts
Older horns are re-bushed with a brand-new robust aluminum/bronze bushing. A new “T” shaft is inserted into that bushing.
The “T” shaft has been expertly machined, welded, heat-treated with a lubricant coating, and correctly shimmed during assembly. After that, the entire component is epoxying coated, and new hardware and a new pivot bearing are installed.
The bore of the later and current manufacturing steering horns is reamed to fit the aluminum/bronze tough bushing, but otherwise, they are treated the same. This reduces part of the wear brought on by the original horn’s rotation of soft steel against soft steel.
Mooney Special Tools
The tools that we have available for all Mooney models include the
- Aileron,
- Elevator
- Rudder travel boards
- Over-center tools for the nose and
- Main landing gear
- Tools to replace the landing gear donuts.
Conclusion
Mooney Nose Gear Truss completely redesigned the steering horn assembly and the rebuilding procedures and manufactured them following the PMA. Additionally, they have received STC approval to replace all steering horns on all models.
Because the pivot stud permanently welded to the airframe is susceptible to wear. Mooney created a new stud that clamps on firmly after removing the original stud. All of these newly developed and rebuilt procedures take care of the wear issue and do away with the demand for such regular maintenance and replacement.
