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gear leg cracks

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Thom Riddle

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)

Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 3:31 am Post subject: gear leg cracks

During our annual inspection we found a 1" long squiggly crack in both 

of the main gear legs, 4" from the fuselage. We ordered a new pair of 

gear legs today for $850. I was told that there has been only one other 

owner in the USA reporting cracked gear legs and it happened to them 

twice and in the same location which was the same location as I ours. 

It seems like a manufacturing or design defect to me, but Doug 

Hempstead assured me that it was not but all have resulted from hard 

landings. We have not had any hard landings, perhaps a few 

not-so-smooth landings at near gross weight, but none that I would 

classify as hard landings. However, since we bought ours used from a 

dealer, it had been used as a demo plane and perhaps primary training, 

but not sure.



WHAT TO LOOK FOR DURING PRE-FLIGHT INSPECTION:

On LEFT main gear leg the crack occurred 4" from the fuselage on the 

FORWARD edge beginning at the mold line.

On RIGHT main gear leg the crack occurred 4" from the fuselage on the 

AFT edge beginning at the mold line.



Attached photos shows the squiggly crack with the beginning and end 

points marked by a pair of arrow heads.



Thom in Buffalo

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_________________
Thom Riddle
Buffalo, NY (9G0)

Don't worry about old age... it doesn't last very long.
- Anonymous

hgmckay(at)bellsouth.net
Guest

Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 6:49 pm Post subject: gear leg cracks

Thom: I would be interested in finding out what the delivery time is for

your new landing gear legs. What has Fantasy Air USA told you? I finally

received my new replacement aluminum wing tanks last week. Fantasy Air USA

shipped them to me from Sanford, NC. They arrived with the flanged ends

severely bent in three or four places around the circumference of the

flange. It looked like some one deliberately bent the flanges on both tanks.

I was shocked! I had to send them back. They were shipped by UPS from

Sanford, NC to my dealer in Morganton, NC. I had to wait 6 weeks to get them

after asking and asking for them to be shipped, and now I'm told by Fantasy

Air USA that I'll have to wait another six weeks to get another set. Earlier

they told me that they had the new aluminum tanks in stock. It is obvious

they do not have the tanks in stock. My fuselage is still sitting in Fantasy

Air's hanger waiting for them to install the BRS. It has been sitting there

for nine weeks along with the BRS chute. When I ask Fantasy Air USA to tell

me when they will have the BRS installed, I get no answer. I am really

frustrated with how I am being treated as a customer.



Hugh in NC



--

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Thom Riddle

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 2:57 am Post subject: Re: gear leg cracks

Hugh,



I was told the gear legs were in stock so I ordered the gear legs on Thursday morning and I received an email later in the day that the legs would be shipped same day. I emailed back and asked for the UPS tracking number. Betty emailed be a tracking number that I susequently tried to track but the UPS tracking system said it was an invalid tracking number. I tried it again this morning and UPS says it is enroute and on-time. I don't think UPS does real time tracking number uploading into their tracking number system. FedEx does it real time; as the package is labeled it is in the system.



As you know, customer support is very important in long term survival of any business that has competition. It appears to me that the Hempsteads have been focusing most of their early efforts on marketing and building a dealer network. Bad press from customers will get their attention, I'm sure. Speaking of which, I was hoping that they would participate in this forum, but the NY dealer specifically asked them to and they saw no reason to do so. I think in time, they will see that it would benefit them to be active in this forum, especially if we can get most of the Allegro owners to do so.



We should continue to use this forum for keeping in touch with each other and discussing issues that we could all benefit from knowing. Eventually, once the word gets out and more people have questions about the Allegro, this forum will become quite active. At least that is my hope.



Thom in Buffalo

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Thom Riddle

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)

Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 3:11 am Post subject: Re: gear leg cracks

My original post on this subject was done from the email list rather than the web forum so the photo I attached was stripped out. I'll try posting it here again.



Thom in Buffalo

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IMG_0130_1_7.JPG

Description:

Arrowhead pairs indicate beginning and end of 1" long crack.

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Thom Riddle

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 8:08 am Post subject: IMPORTANT UPDATE ON GEAR LEG CRACKS

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON GEAR LEG  CRACKS.



Upon removal of old gear legs, to install new ones, we found that there was a crack on the upper surface of each gear leg where it makes contact at the entrance to the fuselage gear leg socket. I'm attaching a photo below showing this.



I ground down the small 1" crack and determined it was only skin deep (through the gel-coat only) on both legs. However, the longer (all the way across the leg) cracks were more than skin deep. They went at least through the first layer of cloth. 



THESE BIG CRACKS WERE NOT VISIBLE WITHOUT REMOVING THE GEAR LEG CLAMPING BRACKET AND MOVING THE GEAR LEG AWAY FROM THE FUSELAGE !!!



Please look for cracks at this location during your inspection. I would also recomend taking a measurement between the gear legs at the axle and occasionally check this distance to detect some sag in gear before failure. This should be done at the same weight on each check. We are now doing it with the main tank full but no occupants. If this distance gets larger, it could be an early warning of impending gear cracks or complete failure.



My Opinion as to cause:

It appears that when the gear leg flexes, the stresses are concentrated where the leg enters the fuselage gear socket, partly because there is a relatively sharp edge where they come into contact with each other. In my opinion, there should be a gap at this point so the leg can flex some before coming into contact with this relatively sharp edge.



I am not a structural engineer but a retired mechanical design engineer and this looks like a problem area to me. I have an idea of how to fix this but won't post it here because I don't want anyone thinking that I am redesigning the Allegro and I don't want any liability for others actions based on my ideas. You can blame the lawyers for this.



PLEASE INSPECT YOUR GEAR LEGS at the fuselage entrance point.

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Original Rt gear leg - cracked[2].JPG

Description:

Original Right Gear Leg, CRACKED at entrance to fuselage socket. Not visible without removing leg clamp and moving gear away from fuselage.

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_________________
Thom Riddle
Buffalo, NY (9G0)

Don't worry about old age... it doesn't last very long.
- Anonymous

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