Have your local machinist build you a bushing??

I don't have an issue with doing that... but not too sure what my IA will think of the idea.. he seems to be a bit of a by the book kinda guy LOL. If a bushing is kosher, I can do that no problem!

Thanks

akavidflyer wrote:I don't have an issue with doing that... but not too sure what my IA will think of the idea.. he seems to be a bit of a by the book kinda guy LOL. If a bushing is kosher, I can do that no problem!

Thanks

Maybe someone on here has a head for a 3400 that has the right size hole? I'm sure there must be some broken parts sitting somewhare.

AK bush wheels 3400 tail wheel uses bushings depending on the size of the stinger... I think their tail wheel starts out at 1.125 inch... I would be tempted to buy a bushing from them and install it...

Brian

Thanks Brian, I will order the spacer from them. If its good enough for AKBW its good enough for me! LOL

We decided to go ahead and pull the jugs. The jugs and pistons looked good sans one bent push rod (on the cylinder that was low in 09) then we pulled the lifters.. All the exhaust lifters looked perfect.. but every one of the intake lifters look like a mad miner went at them with a pick ax. Pitted up faces and the edges are broke off of them... all of them. Jugs have been sent off for overhaul and the last I heard the mechanic was pulling the rest of the engine down last week. Not sure what I am going to do or where to send the prop for an OH, or at least get it flushed out. The project is still a labor of love, but my hopes of flying it on skis this winter just went in the shit can.

Anyone in AK have a prop shop they would recommend me send taking the prop to? My IA doesn't trust anyone in the state to OH cylinders or anything else.. He is a good dude, but old and crusty and stuck in his ways. The only place he wants to send cylinders to is Harrisons (they are rebuilding his personal R985 right now and he has been using them for 30+ yrs so he has a warm fuzzy with them). I am hoping to get out of this for under 20K but time will tell. in the mean time, I have lots of time to pull the old boat anchor crap out of the panel and get the old girl cleaned up a bit and maybe even strip it and do some paint work. It is amazing how quickly a weekend project turns into months of tinkering time LOL

I guess I may as well turn this into a rebuild / repair / tinkering thread.. Not going to be as impressive as Bigrennas thread by any means, but it gives me something to do while I am at work and have time to kill..



At the dock after a quick flight to the lodge. Was a great flight and she flew nice and straight. Hauled in 50 gallons of Diesel to them to help hold them over till the water freezes and we can use the sleds to freight in fuel and supplies.

After this flight it was time to pull the plane out of the water as the lake started building ice the next day. The trailer I use for my Avid and the PA 12 was too small for the 180 so it was time to get to building. All the iron came out of scrap piles we have stacked up behind the hangar so it was nothing but time to get it built.







I didnt get any pics of it in the trailer as it was blowing wet snow and rain and we were scrambling to get it inside before we lost all the heat in the hangar.



It took 2 days of parts blaster, home make concoctions and me turning out a tool in the lathe to try and get the damn tail spring out. The cross tube was rusted in SOLID! I ended up cutting the cross tube with a sawzall to get the tail spring out, then we had to carefully split the tube inside the mount to fold it into itself and pound it out of the mount. That was a bugger that help to expand my vocabulary into something any sailor would be damn proud of!



After much going back and forth, we went ahead a humored the IA by putting the 7/8" tail spring back on.. After the annual it will probly take a magic viagra and turn into a 1 1/8" that happens to be hiding on the shelf in the hangar. The gear and wheels came from Denalipilot and look sweet on the old gal. According the the log books and the previous owner, this is the first time since 74 that she has seen wheels.



While we were busy replacing the right hand elevator, servicing the jack screws and putting in new trim cable and chain, the wife spent 3 days up to her arm pits slopping out the belly of 40 yrs worth of dirt, oil and crap build up. It took multiple applications of Stoddard solvent and lots of cussing to get the crap scraped out and cleaned up, but I bet it was close to 10 pounds of crap that came out. 5 full coffee cans of sludge and dirt came out of the belly not to mention what I was able to vacuum out before she went to work on it.

Interior has been stripped and the old ADF system and various other antiquated crap has been removed. I dont have any scales at the hangar, but I am certain 35-40 pounds have come out. We will see how we do when we put it back together and put it on scales for a new WB.

we are thinking of sound proofing and perhaps kydex to take care of the ceiling and aft cabin from the doors back. Extended baggage will be installed as well.

The more people giving TLC to the fleet the better! Pics pics pics!

If you are still needing a prop shop, I just had my Hartzell O/H ed by A/C Propeller in Seattle. Mike, the owner is a straight shooter and a good guy. He came highly recommended by several AI's I know. Tells it like it is, no BS . When I picked up my prop from his shop, I saw lots of seaplane props getting worked on with lots of shipping crates with AK addresses. That might tell ya something. ....

BR I was editing the post and learning how to imbed pics when you posted that.. new pics are up now.

It looks good on the wheel gear.
-DP

Great Project, Will be watching to see how it turns out.

ok so I know we have and engine that was making a little metal. We never had any "chunks" on the screen etc. The prop has around 900 hours on it. The IA says we need to have it overhauled to get the old oil out of it that was contaminated by the metal in the oil.. question, the prop functions perfectly the blades are good and straight and clean with no leading edge damage etc. No slop in the hub yada yada yada.. his only reasoning for having the prop sent in is to flush it..

My thoughts.

1) can I flush it myself? Same as the oil cooler? I have done lots of oil coolers on boats and cars etc, whats the difference.
2) with a fresh overhaul on the engine, wont I be making some metal as every thing seats and scrapes and wears in the way its spose to.. yes I will. Using that logic, would I not then need to send the prop off again when the engine settled in and quit making metal instead of just doing the oil / filter changes?

I am not apposed to spending money that needs to be spent, but if I am doing shit just for the sake of doing it, I would rather put that money in the tanks and fly the hell outta the plane.. or buy ski's or upgrade the panel a bit.

Am I totally outta line on that thinking?

Oil coolers are way cheap insurance to buy new instead of flush and later have bad oil sample. Prop can be flushed fairly easy I would think.
I ran into your exact same problem a few years ago. New oil cooler, mechanic had prop flushed (or he did it), haven't had a bad oil sample since.

But I agree, it should be a straight forward easy deal to flush both of them yourself especially if you have done it before on something else.

Never had any problems with Dominion Prop in Anchorage. Expensive...I guess. So is everything else here.

2 steps forwards 10 steps back... The engine was tore down scattered across the country to have this shop rebuild that, that shop overhaul that etc at the various shops my IA was all warm and fuzzy dealing with. The plane got rolled out of the hangar to bring a couple other projects real quick.. Got hit with 60 MPH winds about 1 am yesterday morning and I got the dreaded call while I was at work yesterday morning.. Seems we just added a wing tip, left aileron, left horizontal stab and elevator to the list of shit to rebuild or replace. I'm waiting on pics now that shows the damage. I guess the plus side is, the ailerons were going to get re-skinned one day anyhow, so why not do it now up front....

Oh no, sorry to hear about the wind damage.

Way to look at the bright side.

Dang, if I was in your shoes I'd be totally gutshot, so sorry man

thanks guys.. yeah, yesterday was not a good day. I am just waiting to hear back on the various parts sent out to see what they say has to be replaced instead of overhauled.... damnit, that Pponk conversion is looking better by the day. Maybe she will get a face lift and a full paint job this year after all LOL

Leni - Doesn't your A&P have insurance to cover his negligence? It was his placement of and not tying down your airplane that cause the damage, right? There would be no way in hell that I would foot the bill for his f'up.