Good day maule drivers--

Over the past few days we have been working on installing new HD Gear on several Maules here @ Bushwheel Central and I just want to share what we have found so far and give you all a heads up on making sure you have the correct hardware in place to assure you don't have a bad day and your airplane stays in flying condition.

This is a Soft AN bolt in the upper Oleo fitting attach point


Here is what happens when you have very weak strut springs and your Oleo bottoms out




Please make sure to check the proper hardware is installed and your equiptment is not worn out!! I hope this will be informative enuff to not cause alarm but just remind you to be diligent in making sure your aircraft is in good shape.

I don't know the cost of a couple of NAS bolts, but I am going to bet it is way cheaper than the deductible on your insurance and/or the possible time in hospital if your gear collapses.

New bolts are CHEAP!!!!!

TD

Depending on what you do with the/to plane, change them all every two-hundred hours at the outside.

The nice thing about AN hardware is that's what it's supposed to do. It's quite elastic yet still very strong in shear. It does its job of holding everything together even while subjected to severe stress and after being deflected. I still run NAS on my axle attach bolts though.

Perhaps there needs to be through-bushing or something on those attach points? Even harder hardware is going to ovalize those holes.

Not letting the springs bottom out though is probably the key. Does that happen just because the bungees or whatever the spring device is gets worn out and softer?

My bolts didn't fail the Oleo did, right where the picture shows elongated holes, my hole elongated right on through. The bolts were AN. I hadn't had the plane long, but the springs were sagged, and a normal landing would bottom the springs, ker-plop ing it down would really "pop" the gear. I was going to fix them at first annual, but it didn't make it.
Zane, Maule uses Oleo struts, but unlike most they use springs instead of air pressure. The newer springs are much stronger than the old ones, and are retrofitable into the old Oleo's with a little machining. I assume the old springs were fine in an M-4, but the newer and heavier Maules needed a bigger spring. If your bottoming your springs, bad things are happening.

I have to do this, I've been doing it since Wup announced his heavy gear.
Wup,
Where are my safety cables?