Weight of Lift Struts

[MNJoe]

I just weighed the lift struts off N43336. I had intended to have them xrayed here in Minneapolis at Stork but have changed my mind. I stripped one rear strut at their recommendation and then started to strip a front strut. I found a lot of surface rust under the paint that I could not sand off! Now the worst part:

Front Strut #1 weight 12.07 lbs. partially stripped
Front Strut #2 weight 9.95 lbs no paint removed
Rear Strut #1 weight 9.85 lbs all paint removed
Rear strut #2 weight 6.80 lbs no paint removed

I would encourage anybody that is keeping their old struts to consider weighing them. Also I don't know why I didn't give them a shake test before sanding but in some struts I could hear a little bit of particles inside some of the struts moving around, however there was not enough to throw the weights off that far.

Joe

[flyguy]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

Are we talking different thickness on the front struts, or what do you think it is?

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

Sounds like a mismatched set of struts (which is pretty common). They don't have to all be the same, and it is actually not that easy to see they are different while they are on the plane.
Hank

[MNJoe]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

The struts have the same profile. Side by side on the ends is where you can see a difference. I believe the weight difference is all in the material thickness. What it meant is that this airplane had 5 lbs more hanging out one side.

Joe

[flyguy]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

Did it fly funny? Just kidding.
DC

[Greasemonkey]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

What you have found, is the same thing that I found. The lighter rear strut is more than likely 1010, and the heavier is 4130 metal. It is definetly a different thickness, but as stated in the other post, the airplane doesn't care.
I had my struts tested at Stork testing, great guys and very knowlegable.

[Guest]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

I just weighed the lift struts off N43336. I had intended to have them xrayed here in Minneapolis at Stork but have changed my mind. I stripped one rear strut at their recommendation and then started to strip a front strut. I found a lot of surface rust under the paint that I could not sand off! Now the worst part:

Front Strut #1 weight 12.07 lbs. partially stripped
Front Strut #2 weight 9.95 lbs no paint removed
Rear Strut #1 weight 9.85 lbs all paint removed
Rear strut #2 weight 6.80 lbs no paint removed

I would encourage anybody that is keeping their old struts to consider weighing them. Also I don't know why I didn't give them a shake test before sanding but in some struts I could hear a little bit of particles inside some of the struts moving around, however there was not enough to throw the weights off that far.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Good info thanks.

I weighed mine on a skipping scale.

rear , a little more than 7 lbs
front , between 12 -13 lbs

Was thinking about your rear struts at 6.80 & 9.85

ratio of rear strut weights is 9.85/6.80=1.44

ratio of rear possible wall thickness weights .049/.035=1.4

using the wall thickness ratio is not an exact way to calculate the strut weight ratio but its an approximation

Its only an approximation but I would estimate then that one rear strut is made from .035 wall tube and the other .049

The ratio of front struts weights is 12.07/9.95= 1.21

I stuck on the 1.21 ratio but .049 & .035 are common wall thicknesses so one might think that the 1.4 ratio would be close to the strut weight ratio

just random thoughts

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Weight of Lift Struts

I just read through the literature that came with my new struts from Airframes, Inc./Big Lake, Ak.

There were no dimensions given on the size of the struts or wall thickness, I'm sure that is available from Airframes. There is a copy of the STC enclosed along with approved model list, installation instructions, part numbers and info on weight & balance, rigging, dihedral setting, etc.

The weights of the replacement (new) struts are:
Front strut 10 lbs.8 oz. ea
Rear strut 9 lbs.12 oz. ea.
Front jury strut clamp- 2 oz. ea.

Hope this helps and I will do the exterior dimensions on Monday.

Carl Carson