Lynn, I replaced the bellville springs on my 66 Alon about a year and a half ago. The springs were original to the plane which also has about 2400 hours on the airframe. In other words "Springs need no servicing" means at least for 30 years. I'd bet yours are original too, based on the condition you described. Mine were in almost the exact same condition as you described.
It took about 4 months for Univar to manufacture the replacement parts for the restoration kit. The kit cost about $450, if I remember correctly, and includes the 14 bellvilles, replacement O-rings, 6 or 8 aluminum spacers, and a blue print drawing with instructions. Order your parts now or you may be grounded for a good while. It cost another $200 plus to "pilot assisted" get them installed. On installation it'll look like/appear as though you don't need the spacers. Put all of them on anyway! You'll thank yourself later. I didn't and the tail was still about 2 inches low after buttoning everything up. Boy was I disappointed... Six months later during my annual I pulled the springs off "again" and added all the spacers. Now the tail rides high the way it's suppose to be. You'll need to compress the springs slightly to get the spacers on and the retaining clip back in position. Not an easy job! You can also buy a kit to convert to rubber biscuits. It's cheaper but the biscuits I'm told only last about 4 to 5 years before the rubber starts to deteriorate and the tail starts to slowly drop. I'm also a proponent of keeping my plane as original as possible. I'll get arguments for saying this but, in my opinion the bellville springs and possibly the coil springs are the best of all the different coupe main gear configurations. I'd stay with the bellvilles. 30 years from now you can replace them again, if you have to. Good luck with your repairs and keep your tail high! -- Bill DuCharme N6554Q Lynn Nelsen N99387 wrote: Yesterday I found a problem with the Bellview springs on an Alon. I was looking at the aircraft to raise the tail height from 68" up to the design height of 75". I discovered that someone had put a rubber washer, which looks about like one of the Coupe rubber doughnuts cut in half, on top of the stack of springs. When I pulled the right one apart, I found that there were only 6 springs installed, and only one of them was serviceable. Four of the springs had come apart, or started to. The center piece of the top spring had become wedged on the tube and had worn a groove in the tube. I was able to restore the tube to a useable condition. The service manual says the springs need no service, but it looks like they need to be taken apart occasionally and the tube cleaned and lubricated where the springs work. I will check after installing the 7 new springs to see if a spacer is still needed to raise the tail. Has anyone else found this problem? This aircraft is a 1967 model with about 2400 hours TT. I believe it was used in a flight school for the first couple of years of its life. Lynn Nelsen N99387 __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________________________ Keep up with breaking news! Join our Hot Topics list. http://www.topica.com/lists/breakingnews/t/12
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