Piper arrow iii

[Jaysarrowiii]

So I’m having a problem with my piper arrow iii landing gear. When getting ready to land I go to put landing gear down and the gear in transit light flickers and then the circuit breaker pops and keeps popping every time I reset it and try landing gear again, so I used the emergency lever and get the gear down and I get three green light and circuit breaker will reset when gear is down. If I try to use it again for a go around and try it once more same issue. So I put the plane on jacks and sweep the gear on the ground and all works as it should. Take the plane back up and it still have the issue any ideas would be great thanks

 

[Gary Ward]

So I’m having a problem with my piper arrow iii landing gear. When getting ready to land I go to put landing gear down and the gear in transit light flickers and then the circuit breaker pops and keeps popping every time I reset it and try landing gear again, so I used the emergency lever and get the gear down and I get three green light and circuit breaker will reset when gear is down. If I try to use it again for a go around and try it once more same issue. So I put the plane on jacks and sweep the gear on the ground and all works as it should. Take the plane back up and it still have the issue any ideas would be great thanks

I know a 50 year mechanic who serviced and completed a AD on my buddies arrow II gear that he bought a couple years ago. They have been close friends for 40 years. He been in Cleveland for the past 25 years as a DOM. We made many trips back and forth for him to work on my buddy's plane. I got to help. He retired today and is moving to southeastern Indiana with his wife to be closer to his grand children and closer to us! He plans to move all his tools to my buddy's hangar next door. He will still maintain his arrow in my buddy's hangar. He has helped me a lot in the last few years. I will show him your thread and see what he thinks.

 

[GeorgeC]

Welcome to PoA.

I am not a mechanic, but why do circuit breakers pop? Too much current.

Is the motor drawing the amount of current it's supposed to? Are the brushes ok? Does it have gears and bearings and things that haven't been cleaned or lubricated in 50 years? Maybe the motor is fine, but the pump has not seen the light of day since the Ford administration? Does the gear swing freely or does it bind? If things work on the ground but not the air, it sounds to me like it's barely working at all.

@Dan Thomas will be along shortly with a manual excerpt stating maintenance intervals that have likely not been heeded.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

One difference in flight is the air pressure against the gear at 90 knots or whatever your gear extension speed.

Not that you should fly it this way, but if you went up to altitude and did slow flight, perhaps you could confirm. However, bottom line is something is loose, worn, misaligned, or changed.

 

[Dan Thomas]

When you mention going around, I presume the gear retracts OK without popping the breaker? It only pops when you lower the gear?

That nosewheel has to go forward against the wind to extend. That loads the circuit some, more than on the ground or during retraction. So the question now is why the breaker pops, and I can think of at least two distinct possibilities here:

That breaker is as old as the airplane (40 years?) and its contacts are oxidized. That adds resistance, and that resistance causes more heating, and the breaker, a thermal-trip device, is fooled into thinking that the current flow is too much, so it pops. The breaker has a bimetal strip in it that gets warm when the current flow increases, and at or around the current rating it will trip off. Those oxidized contacts create additional heat that the bimetal strip reads as excessive current.

A new breaker would be a good place to start.

The system might have additional friction from underservicing, as GeorgeC suggests.

 

[Gary Ward]

When my buddy bought his arrow couple years ago he flew his friend and long time mechanic from Cleveland to Duluth Mn to look it. It was owned by buddy's work friend who also is a AP/IA and 25000 hr Captain check airman , sea plane CFII, etc. Even with all that he met Jim out there to mainly to swing the gear in his shop. Then when they got back he found a AD wasn't done yet on the gear. So he did the AD on it and it got done pretty much right away. The gear is nothing to cheap out on is what learned.

 

[Datadriver]

So I’m having a problem with my piper arrow iii landing gear. When getting ready to land I go to put landing gear down and the gear in transit light flickers and then the circuit breaker pops and keeps popping every time I reset it and try landing gear again, so I used the emergency lever and get the gear down and I get three green light and circuit breaker will reset when gear is down. If I try to use it again for a go around and try it once more same issue. So I put the plane on jacks and sweep the gear on the ground and all works as it should. Take the plane back up and it still have the issue any ideas would be great thanks

Is the circuit breaker that is popping the breaker for the pump motor or the breaker for the indicator lights?

On my Arrow IV the gear handle doesn't actuate the pump if the indicator lights breaker goes out, and that sounds like what is happening to you. In my case, the problem was a stray wire left uncapped near the nose gear microswitch that when flying, was contacting a hot wire while in flight once the nose gear started to move.

I would check the microswitch wires near the nose and mains.