Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Nose strut lower tube replacement

Was fixin' to make an 800 mile surprise visit to mom last night only to find the nose strut flat again.

I've got the kit to service the seals, but since my lower tube (the one with the chrome on it) is pretty seriously pitted, i'm considering replacing the tube at the same time.

I've found a new tube for $535.00 which is a good deal, or could use a serviceable one from salvage.

A new tube requires some machining for the bottom plug, so i'm leaning towards the salvage unit.

Anyone have any input at to why i should purchase the new as opposed to a salvage part?

MONEY!
5 min. after installing the expen$ive new one it will be "used". But seriously,..........
I'm sure you can find a good used one in excellent shape for under $200. I've seen complete nose struts including the wheel and tire on eBay for $300.
-B

That was my thinking also Brian. Occasionally i do find that money is not the bottom line, so i had to ask the question. I've had more than my share of surprises going forward without sufficient info on airplane stuff!!!

The new tube probably doesn't have any holes in it, or at least not full sized holes. It will require pressing off the fork (without damaging it) and pressing it on the new piston, and machining the holes in the new part. Will take a decent machinist to do this without damaging the fork or tube.

Charles

That and the associated cost helps me think shopping the local salvage yards is the way to go.

Is this what you need?


Front strut [cgi.ebay.com]

Here is a suggestion. Untill you get the strut replaced get a piece of rubber radiator hose about 2 1/2 inches long, slice it down the side and wrap it around the base of the strut with a screw clamp to prevent the strut from bottoming out metal to metal. After I got my nose strut fixed I left the rubber on in case the strut looses pressure again.
_____________________________
Pay me now and pay me more later. (Citi Bank)

Not certain yet. Still checking on some things. But it is on my ebay watch list. Thanks, russ

I remember your mentioning that before. I like the idea, but since it just leaks right down in a few days i'm leaving it parked till fixed. Gotta get 'er done soon with Page comin' up in a couple weeks.

The price of a new tube looks quite reasonable to me,, factoring in that it's a cessna part. Have you already taken it off? A few things to consider,, and if you are watching anything on a watch list,, I'd have a really close look at the cylinder portion, where the bearing is mounted to the lower section. When I had mine off this winter, for a "seal replacement", things got a bit more interesting when I removed the complete assembly and found the lower bearing was worn out, and that it had "worn some fairly severe grooves on the cylinder part. So. from my perspective,, there are 2 things to really watch for. The inner tube condition,, dents and pitting, and the second part would be the condition of the cylinder with bearing included. Everything else is fully useable and there should be no reason to replace any of the other parts,, other then o rings that is. But,, I'd check the lower bearing,, and I'm not so sure it can be checked correctly when the strut is mounted. If you require pointers for the roll pin removal, let me know as I'd made up a niffty jig for that little portion of the "removal process". As well, I'm a bit of a pack rat,, on the hardware portion I don't typically reuse old parts,, as in a roll pins. It was cheaper for me to purchase a few of these,, so, I have a few spares,,,

I should mention, providing the outer cylinder doesn't have damage,, like being bent or dented, the bearing wear or grooving into the cylinder can be repaired. When I called Cessna for a price of that puppy,, for a few minutes I had this thought I'd just get a new part,, but a 2 minute phone call re-arranged my thinking. If I recollect correctly, it's roughly 15 to 20% of the cost of purchasing a nice 150. That woke me up in a hurry.