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vince, last weekend i fitted the spacer on the MLG of my 415D. my experiences were: indeed, remove the leg fairings, jack the leg on one side up (using a long bolt through the hole in the knee joints and one or two automotive jacks), remove the lower bolt on the strut, swing the assembly back and simply slide down the cylinder/donut assembly. there is no need to remove the upper bolt, the piston will remain hanging under the wing. you have to jack the plane rather high (half a meter or so) to get the tire completely free and have enough length to remove the cylinder. i experienced problems with full wing tanks, rather large amounts of avgas dropped through the vent hole of the lower tank, so its probably advisable to have nearly empty wing tanks. i believe it is advisable *not* to remove the retainer clip under the bell-shaped upper end of the assembly. i had to remove it because of a stuck piston/cylinder and realised that it is *very* hard and tediuos to get the retainer-clip back in position... simply shift the spacer over the piston and then slip over the cylinder assembly again. to add fluid: i understand that up to s/n 813 you have to add lockheed brake fluid, from there on you have to add hyraulic oil. the reason for this must be the composition of the rubber-seals on the piston, because the construction is the same. if someone refilled brake-fluid in the hydraulic-oil requiring cylinder in the past this may cause problems. i decided to clean the cylinders thoroughly and us new fluid. the fluid has to be filled in after putting the pieces on the MLG together. keep the airplane on the jacks and remove the small rubber bumper on the backside of the leg. normally this limits the way of travel of the cylinder, the extra one inch will give the oil-hole on the backside of the cylinder free and you can fill in hydraulic oil until it drops out (don´t know exactly the amount, must be 100-200ccm. i used a disposable 50ml plastic syringe with a long tubing). it seems not to be possible to refill the fluid when the aircraft stands on the MLG. i hope this is useful information, i am not sure wether these experiences are helpful for the belleville springs. best wishes from germany holger ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
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