Lets Pack!!

[Doug Davis]

Ladies and Gentlemen: It's time to pack!   Really!!    Perhaps in some parts of the country, past time.  To those who think your IA Checks your bearings at annual--every-time--think again!!  The concentious ones will, but some and even perhaps most will not.  I've had fellow colleagues tell me--"you can't check everything every-time" - to that I say BS - thats the law, and it's what you're getting paid to do. After the Paint job, I've been going over things in general, and have found things that have passed muster when they shouldn't have. ( bought the AC in June-Cherokee)  Thought I heard a "rumble" from the nose gear after letting it down on a paved strip the other day.  Sure enough, both bearings and races were severely pitted.  A pitted bearing can disintegrate unexpectedly, and is extremely dangerous. Apparently sitting for the last couple of months during stripping and painting was the straw.  But from the severity of the pitting, they've been going bad for some time, and haven't been packed regularly or properly. I dumped approx. 2 oz. of condensational water out of the wheel cavity, and the grease was milky.  No wonder they were pitted.  My point?  You need to check and pack (properly) every 6 MOs. and particularly just before the cold weather sets in, to fight condensation, and of course use the proper grease. I'll probably get dumped on for this, but it's the safe thing to do.  I looked at a coupe last summer ( to purchase) and it looked really good as I walked up.  But the first thing I do is grab the prop and jiggle the AC from side to side to check the nose wheel play.  The Wheel was so loose it had worn a deep groove in the single fork.  I figured that if something that obvious went without repair, what else that couldn't readily be seen, and walked away. Doug