Emergency Gear Extension PA-32

[Painter1]

I recently had a gear extension problem in our 1977 Piper Lance. None of the gear extended normally, so I went to a safe altitude & area, slowed, held down the emergency gear extension lever and executed the reccomended maneuvers. No Joy.

I began pumping the lever and after many, many, repetitions the right main came down. Continued pumping brought the left main down and finally the nose gear.

Upon inspection we found the fluid to be remarkably low, though it was presumably full a few days earlier, having just come out of annual. I made 4 prior uneventful landings in 2 days, after annual and before this incident.

On jacks, after adding fluid, the gear swung twice normally. The third try popped the circuit breaker. We replaced the motor & pump assembly and it swings well on jacks now.

Last February, also shortly after annual, the gear auto-extended while in cruise at altitude. We ended up replacing a long bolt in the nose gear, but also found the fluid to be very low.

Why was it necessary to pump the emergency gear lever to get the gear to extend? Just holding it down is supposed to do the trick per the POH.

What do you think is going on with the fluid? There is indication of minor leakage but not too much.

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.





plan to make a long flight

 

[RotorAndWing]

I recently had a gear extension problem in our 1977 Piper Lance. None of the gear extended normally, so I went to a safe altitude & area, slowed, held down the emergency gear extension lever and executed the reccomended maneuvers. No Joy.

I began pumping the lever and after many, many, repetitions the right main came down. Continued pumping brought the left main down and finally the nose gear.

Upon inspection we found the fluid to be remarkably low, though it was presumably full a few days earlier, having just come out of annual. I made 4 prior uneventful landings in 2 days, after annual and before this incident.

On jacks, after adding fluid, the gear swung twice normally. The third try popped the circuit breaker. We replaced the motor & pump assembly and it swings well on jacks now.

Last February, also shortly after annual, the gear auto-extended while in cruise at altitude. We ended up replacing a long bolt in the nose gear, but also found the fluid to be very low.

Why was it necessary to pump the emergency gear lever to get the gear to extend? Just holding it down is supposed to do the trick per the POH.

What do you think is going on with the fluid? There is indication of minor leakage but not too much.

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.





plan to make a long flight

You have a leak (obviously). You also have problems with the power pack. Find a mechanic that is familiar with these and repair correctly.

 

[Painter1]

Yes, the entire power pack has been replaced now. I still do not understand why the EMergency Gear Release had to be pumped so many times.

Gear is held UP by hydraulic pressure and is supposed to come down when pressure is released.

 

[RotorAndWing]

It's been years since I worked on one of those. IIRC the handle is attached to a cable to the power pack?

 

[Skip Miller]

Gear is held UP by hydraulic pressure and is supposed to come down when pressure is released.

Correct. 'Pumping' the lever has no hydraulic action. What may be happening is that the hydraulic fluid pressure release plumbing may be clogged by some debris. Why 'pumping' releases this is a question.

My only experience in PA-32-xxxRs is limited to about 100 hours about a decade ago. The gear retract system is stone simple so a competent A&P should find the problem quickly.

-Skip

 

[RotorAndWing]

Correct. 'Pumping' the lever has no hydraulic action. What may be happening is that the hydraulic fluid pressure release plumbing may be clogged by some debris. Why 'pumping' releases this is a question.

My only experience in PA-32-xxxRs is limited to about 100 hours about a decade ago. The gear retract system is stone simple so a competent A&P should find the problem quickly.

-Skip

Agreed.

 

[Henning]

I recently had a gear extension problem in our 1977 Piper Lance. None of the gear extended normally, so I went to a safe altitude & area, slowed, held down the emergency gear extension lever and executed the reccomended maneuvers. No Joy.

I began pumping the lever and after many, many, repetitions the right main came down. Continued pumping brought the left main down and finally the nose gear.

Upon inspection we found the fluid to be remarkably low, though it was presumably full a few days earlier, having just come out of annual. I made 4 prior uneventful landings in 2 days, after annual and before this incident.

On jacks, after adding fluid, the gear swung twice normally. The third try popped the circuit breaker. We replaced the motor & pump assembly and it swings well on jacks now.

Last February, also shortly after annual, the gear auto-extended while in cruise at altitude. We ended up replacing a long bolt in the nose gear, but also found the fluid to be very low.

Why was it necessary to pump the emergency gear lever to get the gear to extend? Just holding it down is supposed to do the trick per the POH.

What do you think is going on with the fluid? There is indication of minor leakage but not too much.

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.





plan to make a long flight

The only reasons I can think of that you would have to 'pump' the handle is either the mechanical linkage to the valve is worn and it takes several 'jiggles' to get things lined up right so the valve will open. Either that or you have a clog within the fluid side of the valve or plumbing.

Either way, you have issues that need to be dealt with, as the power pack replacement would have no effect with regards to that problem, the two were unrelated. You just didn't notice you had the valving issue before.

 

[Painter1]

The only reasons I can think of that you would have to 'pump' the handle is either the mechanical linkage to the valve is worn and it takes several 'jiggles' to get things lined up right so the valve will open. Either that or you have a clog within the fluid side of the valve or plumbing.

Either way, you have issues that need to be dealt with, as the power pack replacement would have no effect with regards to that problem, the two were unrelated. You just didn't notice you had the valving issue before.

Thank you, Sir. I was afraid they are unrelated and the problem is still there. I will pass this on to our Mechanic to look at now that what to look for.

 

[Henning]

Thank you, Sir. I was afraid they are unrelated and the problem is still there. I will pass this on to our Mechanic to look at now that what to look for.

It is a dirt simple system for that emergency release, all it does is opens a valve and dumps the hydraulic fluid back to the tank. There are only a couple of things it can possibly be.

It concerns me more that you are using an A&P that didn't come up with this while looking at the plane, that is disturbing.