I finally saw what happens when you skip the grease fitting on a landing gear strut for 8 months

Swapped out a nose wheel tire on a Cessna 172 last week and the corrosion inside the oleo was so bad it looked like the whole strut had been sitting in saltwater, has anyone else ever pulled one apart and found stuff that bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_fisher510d ago

You mentioned "the corrosion inside the oleo was so bad it looked like the whole strut had been sitting in saltwater" and that got me thinking. Actually, that corrosion might not be from just missing grease fittings, it could be from leaving the strut over inflated for months. I've seen a few guys pump up their struts way past the service limit to get a smoother ride, and that pushes all the oil and grease out past the seals. Then you're left with metal on metal with nothing to protect it, and moisture just gets sucked right in when things cool down at night. So the real problem might be that the strut was OVER serviced, not under serviced. Check the inflation history if you can, that could be your smoking gun.

felix47810d ago

Honestly, @betty_fisher5 you might be onto something there. I used to think over inflation was only a problem for ride quality, not for actually destroying the internals like that. Seeing how it forces all the lube out and lets moisture suck back in makes a lot of sense though. Never connected those dots before, but now I'm gonna check my pressure logs more carefully.