Drooping wing

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:32 pm

Thanks Jeremy, I will have to check and see if the two Levels are correlating. On the lower oleo attach point at the gear is there any way the oleo tube could have been opened up per say in a ground loop or with major side loading? I'm hoping the bushing fixes it but I feel there is more to it than that. The is a ton of play at the attach point. Even with weight on wheels. I noticed the other side was staked in and the one giving problems just fell out in my hand. I'm not even sure it is the right part number. I do not have my parts DVD here at the house. The bearing is a spherco sbg-6s, any thoughts?

maules.com · Post by **maules.com** » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:51 pm

Sorry, i dont have that part # in my brain. If it was not staked tightly and play began, it could oval the holes quite easily. The ovalling may be in the oleo tube holes or in the bearing hole in the gear.
If you have ABW HD gear, they would have the part, not Maule.

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:05 pm

Still the stock gear as we speak. I'm leaning that way. Just want it airworthy for now though until I can afford the extended gear. Placing the bolt through the oleo tube separately seems to be a tight fit. The gear hole seems a bit big for the bearing in its place. The bearing looks fairly new compared to the other side. I'm wondering if the wrong bearing was installed on a rush job. I will find more out tomorrow. I'm hoping the oleo tube itself is not stretched open either. I need to take some measurements and make a phone call.

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:48 pm

New bearing will be here tomorrow. I've never staked a bearing in. Is it ok to use a punch and hammer to stake the bearings. At work in our machine shop they have an actual tool to use. How would you guys do it on the farm per say. I also plan on using loctite bearing retainer as well. Any thoughts on these two practices? Can't really work the wing level issue right now as the plane is lifted for gear work. Maule has the bearings on back order. Luckily I found it at a local supplier. If the bearing seat/hole is out of round and this fix doesn't work it looks like ill be ordering some gear legs from Wup. Extended or not is the question?

maules.com · Post by **maules.com** » Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:29 pm

It is surprising how much slop a few centre punch stakes will take up unless it is wallowed out tremendously.

aero101 · Post by **aero101** » Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:26 pm

Staking out the slop is temporary only as slop will return in very short order... I've done some thin wall bushings using chromoly tube as bushing, which is a little better, or you can replace just the bottom section of oleo which still much less then the cost of ABW Gear assy... If bushing, just ream existing hole till round again, mnfr bushing ID/OD from suitable chromoly tube, allowing .001 - .002" interferance fit on OD into oleo tube, then fit mono bearing with around .001 - .0015" interference and viola, fits like new!!

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:21 pm

Thanks Jim. Just finished up the bearing and all the new hardware is installed. Gonna start tomorrow and see what is going on with the wing. It's a little out of my mechanical experience but I'm just gonna inspect the hell out of it. Won't make any adjustments. It really is driving me crazy. Hoping my ia can make it down soon.

Post by **andy** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:02 am

My MX-7-180's left wing is 2 inches lower than the right wing even after adding ABW HD gear legs and rebuilding the oleo struts. Maule Flight re-rigged the airplane during the rebuild in 2010 so it's not a rigging problem. It flies fine. The only noticeable effect is fuel draining from the right wing to the left on the ground if I forget to switch the fuel selector out of the both position. Most of the time I don't forget, so it's more of a cosmetic thing. I can only see it clearly in the hangar when the top of the wing lines up with a level piece of frame lumber on the rear wall of my hangar. I wouldn't worry about it unless it's extreme.

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:11 am

Leveled up the fuselage today and the wings are within an inch of each other. I definitely have something going on with the gear. Whether something is bent or a spring pack is weak I don't know. I measured the piston out of the oleo with weight on wheels. The measure extremely close. I dunno

xwildcat · Post by **xwildcat** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:37 pm

FWIW, I had a low wing issue that I chased for a long while. It drove me nuts but flew OK. Finally, I ordered new HD gear and NAS hardware from ABW and new oleos from Maule. That did the trick and my wings have been level ever since.

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 6:25 pm

New spring packs were installed a little over a year ago before I bought the plane.. I know these could still be the issue. I am leaning toward ABW extended gear. I just wish I knew for sure what was bent or if a spring was weak etc. I would feel better about the gear purchase. If I spend 4k and it still leans my wife is likely to kill me lol. Oh well. Wup is actually out of gear as of two days ago. How much are the new Oleos and what the best way to inspect my current ones. Disassemble and measure, is there any way to test resilience?

iceman · Post by **iceman** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 10:50 am

this might have been mentioned already and probably obvious but I wouldn't measure from the wing tip to the ground. If you are that might be where the difference is... when Wing tips are new they come open and are finished on the plane after being put on so in my case one is just a slight bit different than the other... since two different people did the glassing closed... that being the case one measures a litlte different from the tip to the hangar floor...

FARMAULE · Post by **FARMAULE** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 11:15 am

Thanks iceman. I took measurements from several different areas. Mostly from the flush rivet on front spar near tie down rings and some from fwd strut attach points. To level the fuselage I have 7psi in right tire and 15psi in the left. This bring s the wings with in an inch and tells me there is something wrong in the gear.

aero101 · Post by **aero101** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 5:59 pm

Check floor level laterally, check wing attach carry thru tube (at top of windsheild) level laterally, if both level problem is wing struts not adjusted properly... You can raise and lower each wing as needed by adjusting rod ends in / out equal amounts at bottom of wing struts... Doesn't take much adjustment to change wing height considerably... If you lengthen one side, shorten the other equal number of turns opposite direction and that will keep dyhidral the same or very close.

chetharris · Post by **chetharris** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:04 pm

Another problem that can lead to a low wing is an elongated or out of shape hole where the oleo spring cartridge attaches to the oleo strut. The spring bottoms out and the thin wall and brazed washer start to elongate.

Wup had a picture of this on another post: http://maulepilots.org/forums/viewtopic ... =elongated

I had this problem and the wing sat low until corrected. It also looked like it was heading for failure, as it was worse than the photo Wup posted.

Drooping wing

Low wing stance.

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