Here are the gearlegs that I have. I found out that there is only one step on the set. There is a little rust on them but I think they should clean up ok. You can actually see the part number on one of them but not the other. I imagine it is under the paint somewhere. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Ok, I removed the step and found rust. I removed the rust with the wire wheel on my grinder. I took a picture of the cleaned area and then shot some white primer over it to get a little more contrast. The gearleg without the step shows evidence of having had rust removed and than painted over long ago.
The gear legs I have look very much like that..both steps are installed on mine. Maybve a bit lest surface rust. I do not believe you are going to find gear legs without SOME amount of corrosion under the steps. Its a COMMON problem.
I agree that most flat gear legs probably have some rust lurking under the steps. Mine were pretty bad so I bought a set on eBay that looked perfect. Even after stripping the paint there was no sign of rust...until I removed the step brackets. Both legs have some damage, but none as bad as my existing legs, so I am going to proceed with the switch. I am betting that ignorance is bliss on this issue and we should as a club be recommending that the step brackets be removed and the gear checked on all our planes periodically.
J. W. Palmer 1970 C-150K N6272G Ashland, VA (KOFP)
