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Lift strut dent

Speaking of a dented strut, I was asked to look at this, he doesn’t know what happened but it’s new sense the annual. Seems pretty smooth, no creases
 

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Looks like someone pushed up on it. Did that to the upper end of one, pushing up towards the top of the strut trying to get my tire unstunk on a sand bar.
 
I see float fittings. Things happen when the plane is lifted and gear changed if there's something hard nearby. Or, ?

Gary
 
The mystery of how may never be figured out, but do we replace it?
I see nothing structurally wrong with it as is. All the loads are in tension. Just looks bad. I suppose you could weld a piece of welding rod in the middle and then heat the whole thing up with a torch while pulling on the rod. Would that cause an issue on a sealed strut?
 
Metal tubing can fail under compression. A misspent youth taught that an adult beverage can be hard to stomp flat unless a side dent was first formed. I had a strut with an external "sleeve repair" welded per AC 43 on my Taylorcraft.....we replaced the strut.

Gary
 
In one -G event in a 7ECA I had a pencil, chart, and dirt floating at eye level for a brief period. Reminded me that wood spars were flexible yet strong when we hit hard bottom. Downwind rotor clouds to be avoided apparently.

Gary
 
Did it stick to the cabin top? It would need to be -1g to get there.
Only slightly negative, not -1 g required for that. I'm not an A&P, but I'd be a little leery. Maybe the manufacturer publishes a dent limit?? Seems 43.13 has dent limits and repair methods.
 
.... Seems 43.13 has dent limits and repair methods.

Not A&P, but From AC 43.13-1B CHG 1 Par 4-94, a. Dented Tubing. (1) Dents are not deeper than 1/10 of tube diameter, do not involve more than 1/4 of the tube circumference, and are not longer than tube diameter.

Gary
 
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