Cessna Twin Hydrolics
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 310
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From: Indonesia
I do not know your specific model but comment may be valid. Has any avionics work been done recently ref wiring to undercarriage microswitches? I had an undercarriage problem similar on a Puma helicopter after 'someone' sprayed the internal receptacles of the electrical socket with can of spray paint. In our case the nose undercart started to raise, got half way and then dropped down again.
Joined: Sep 2010
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From: earth
The simple nuts and bolts test is (if you can pin your gear). On the ground, retract and take a long handled screw driver. Apply it to the retract actuator and listen from the other end, it may be by-passing internally, enough to work on the ground but not in flight, heat is another factor as compared to the other gear.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2010
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From: Morobe
The valve on the emergency nitrogen bottle was leaking which pressurized the down lines.
Apply it to the retract actuator and listen from the other end, it may be by-passing internally, enough to work on the ground but not in flight,
Last edited by tolakuma manki; 7th April 2012 at 10:57.
Joined: Feb 2006
Aviation Qualifications: LAME
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From: Station 42
Further to the other good suggestions:
What rig are you ground testing the gear with? Is it producing constant normal system pressure? It it's retracting the gear at a lower pressure in the hangar, perhaps the seal isn't leaking to the other side of the ram, as it might when using the engine-driven hydraulic system at full pressure. I'd be tempted to remove the actuator and test it at 1.5 x normal px with the return port uncapped to see if there's any leakage.
The other possibility is (I may well be wrong as I've not worked on a Titan for a long time) is that the downlock microswitch on the actuator is defective, which is sending a pressure cut-off signal to the hydraulic system once the other gears have retracted. But that doesn't explain why the system works fine when the a/c is on jacks. It would be interesting to see the system hydraulic/electrical schematic.
Has it got a spring-loaded downlock inside the actuator?
What rig are you ground testing the gear with? Is it producing constant normal system pressure? It it's retracting the gear at a lower pressure in the hangar, perhaps the seal isn't leaking to the other side of the ram, as it might when using the engine-driven hydraulic system at full pressure. I'd be tempted to remove the actuator and test it at 1.5 x normal px with the return port uncapped to see if there's any leakage.
The other possibility is (I may well be wrong as I've not worked on a Titan for a long time) is that the downlock microswitch on the actuator is defective, which is sending a pressure cut-off signal to the hydraulic system once the other gears have retracted. But that doesn't explain why the system works fine when the a/c is on jacks. It would be interesting to see the system hydraulic/electrical schematic.
Has it got a spring-loaded downlock inside the actuator?
Last edited by stevef; 7th April 2012 at 15:38.
