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New Struts from old style tubing

P

pupdriver

Registered User
Hello Everyone,

First time posting here. Just took the plunge and bought a plane. I have been on this site just looking around ever since I first found this airplane for sale. Here is what I got.. Homebuilt similar to a PA-12 with a c-90. The aircraft was built by a gentleman who took everything he liked from various planes he had owned and built a very good working mutt! It has a custom airfoil, big flaps, and slots like a Stinson. When he finished it in the mid eighties it weighed 860ish with starter, gen, and battery. The gross on the paperwork is 1500.

I am looking for a little advice concerning the struts. The struts are original mid eighties and are custom built. They seem solid but are beat up somewhat and even though they have been painted, I see some old pitting. The builder trusts them but I do not have the warm fuzzy feeling I would like when looking at struts. What I do have is enough streamlined tubing to make a new set but it is the old egg shaped stuff of the same dimensions as an original J-3. Any thoughts on using this for my application? And.. has anyone heard of ordering custom sealed struts?

Thanks for your advice,
pupdriver
 
The original AD was for INTERNAL corrosion at the high water mark INSIDE the unsealed struts... (that would make water, from condensation/unsealed).... that you could NOT SEE....

use your judgment, did you die last flight? no? probably not an issue...
 
Since you do have a concern, I would take them off, remove the fitting and look inside with a light or if available borescope. Study the inside for any corrosion, pitting etc. If it's clean pour in some corrosion proofing (there are various versions) and slosh to completely coat the inside. Reinstall and fly.
 
I have removed unsealed struts and tapped the open end on the concrete floor. The size and quantity of the rust flakes that come out may influence further testing or immediate relegation to the scrap pile. I helped remove struts from a derelict Tripacer that were full to the top with used engine oil. What a mess. jrh
 
N86250 said:
I have removed unsealed struts and tapped the open end on the concrete floor. The size and quantity of the rust flakes that come out may influence further testing or immediate relegation to the scrap pile. I helped remove struts from a derelict Tripacer that were full to the top with used engine oil. What a mess. jrh
Click to expand...
Was there any rust? :lol:
 
pupdriver said:
Hello Everyone,

First time posting here. Just took the plunge and bought a plane. I have been on this site just looking around ever since I first found this airplane for sale. Here is what I got.. Homebuilt similar to a PA-12 with a c-90. The aircraft was built by a gentleman who took everything he liked from various planes he had owned and built a very good working mutt! It has a custom airfoil, big flaps, and slots like a Stinson. When he finished it in the mid eighties it weighed 860ish with starter, gen, and battery. The gross on the paperwork is 1500.

I am looking for a little advice concerning the struts. The struts are original mid eighties and are custom built. They seem solid but are beat up somewhat and even though they have been painted, I see some old pitting. The builder trusts them but I do not have the warm fuzzy feeling I would like when looking at struts. What I do have is enough streamlined tubing to make a new set but it is the old egg shaped stuff of the same dimensions as an original J-3. Any thoughts on using this for my application? And.. has anyone heard of ordering custom sealed struts?

Thanks for your advice,
pupdriver
Click to expand...

Sounds familiar. Who built it?
 
I bore scoped a set of those bad, dangerous struts from my '61 Colt. They were clean and shiny but I went with the sealed since it was a certified airplane. (and I got tired of abusing my Maule tester) Windfall for experimental builders is the removed struts, sometimes they are free or very cheap.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I see a new bore scope in my future! If I did build new struts any thoughts on using the old style J-3 tubing? I do not have any tubing load/strength charts but my intuition tells me that the weak points are the forks or the weld between the forks and the tubing and not the tubing itself. The shape is a little more blunt but they seem like they would take more abuse on the ground.

Note: This is my first experience with any type of social media. I have been heavy into research for the past four months and have read many many threads on this site - it is funny how you can always spot the new people with limited experience - now it is me!
 
jrh
skywagon8a said:
Was there any rust? :lol:
Click to expand...

On my Aeronca struts that I tapped, a scary pile of rust came out of each one. On the TriPacer struts,
I didn't see any water when I emptied them but it was such a mess I couldn't tell if they were rusty. Didn't cut them open and the owner sold them with the project. I thought that oil might have had merit but Tubeseal would have been a lot less messy. jrh
 
pupdriver said:
Thanks everyone for the advice. I see a new bore scope in my future! If I did build new struts any thoughts on using the old style J-3 tubing? I do not have any tubing load/strength charts but my intuition tells me that the weak points are the forks or the weld between the forks and the tubing and not the tubing itself. The shape is a little more blunt but they seem like they would take more abuse on the ground.

Note: This is my first experience with any type of social media. I have been heavy into research for the past four months and have read many many threads on this site - it is funny how you can always spot the new people with limited experience - now it is me!
Click to expand...

The weak points are - areas with internal corrosion, if any. The threads for the early style small forks, especially if they had cut threads. And the fork itself if anyone put any bending moment on the ears. The welds shouldn't be an issue. The same tubing that was used on the J3 was also used on the PA-18 and I think the PA-18-105 Special. Not sure about the PA-18-135 or -150.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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