"Michael Higgins" wrote in message ...

I first thought the gas strut/spring was bad, so I
spent considerable time taking it out. It seems to
be working OK. The gas spring is about 5.9' long and
has about a 1.5' stroke. I can close it with about
20 or more pounds of force, and then it springs back
to the full extended position. So it functions OK.
But -- maybe the gas strut has lost some pressure
and should have a higher force?

Struts like that should take something like 80 pounds force
to compress them, so I expect it's old. The bad news is
that a weak strut won't prohibit the handle from going to the
up position like you're seeing, so that's not the immediate
problem. The second "strut" on the gear is an oil-filled damper,
not pressurized at all. They leak over the years and also need
to be replaced, but again that's not the problem you're looking
at.



I carefully took a mirror and flashlight and carefully
inspected every linkage, rod, crack, shaft, weld, and
rivet in the landing gear system for signs of damage.
Everything looks normal. The only thing that looks
abnormal is the angle of the arms coming off the shock/isolation
mounts on the rear of the wheel well wall.

Any ideas on what broke? How to fix it?


Don't know. Every case of gear collapse I've heard of due
to the wheel not being fully deployed was resolved without
permanent damage, outside of maybe gear doors.

-Dave