New Strut questions

[hangarb7]

Very Quickly, here is the story. Soon to retire and want to get my '46 BC12D back in the air; never dealt with the Strut AD. I've owned the airplane since 1993 and it has been my hangar queen.

I want to send my struts to Wag Aero to be evaluated and possibly AMOC sealed, however I started to take the struts off last night and wanted to measure that angle at the top of the front strut in case I have to buy new struts. It is 4 degrees on the right strut, by the way.

But as we were working on the airplane last night, we realized that the front strut is completely closed, or am I missing something? It does not appear to have any opening where moisture could get in and certainly does not look rusty from the outside (airplane hangared at least for the last 25 years)

My partner is asking if I potentially have a sealed strut already but I can't imagine they were available until after Harry did his dirty work. What am I missing?

Thanks, JackD
FWQ
N44057

[3Dreaming]

Re: New Strut questions

Look at the top bolt hole. If there is a bushing welded in the hole they are likely sealed. If there is no bushing they are not. If there is no bushing they should have had a drain hole drilled in the bottom end to let water out.

[hangarb7]

Re: New Strut questions

We could not find any drain hole which started me thinking..... I wouldn't be surprised if the struts had been changed years ago (recover in the 1980's) and no logbook entry, but I didn't know sealed struts existed back then. Did they?

And where would the drain hole be? I would think on the bottom of the airfoil shape but we see none and cleaned that area to be sure.

Thanks,

JackD

[jstall]

Re: New Strut questions

That top hole is the key, the lower weep hole could be covered by years of paint
that is the story of the ones on my TC, I'm still runing the originals and they are fine. Problem will be when it comes time to sell it, going to take about 2 grand off price anyway one cuts it. Personally I'll stay with what Ive got they fit fine and are very clean and safe. Been thru two inspections now

JS

We could not find any drain hole which started me thinking..... I wouldn't be surprised if the struts had been changed years ago (recover in the 1980's) and no logbook entry, but I didn't know sealed struts existed back then. Did they?

And where would the drain hole be? I would think on the bottom of the airfoil shape but we see none and cleaned that area to be sure.

Thanks,

JackD

[3Dreaming]

Re: New Strut questions

The original struts didn't have a drain hole, but it should have been added later if they weren't sealed. Like I said the only way to know for sure is to look at the top bolt hole in the strut.
If it is solid all the way through then they are sealed, if it is just the outer plate on the strut they are not.