Guys, I went thru the strut rust/take off and honed the strut cylinder/removed the rust on the piston cylinder, then replaced the pieces of rubber left of the cup with new cups (Skyport). Now the real problem came when I tried to push the strut tube back up on the cylinder piston. I did not want to remove the piston from the wing - looked like I would have to remove the wing to do it. Anyway, because of the bell-shaped top cap on the strut cylinder tube (held on with a snap ring), you cannot get to the insertion point on the top of the strut cylinder to persuade the new cup to start into it. Liked to killed me before I finally asked for help. My mechanic and I finally rolled a 5" wide (or so)sheet of stainless steel shim material (Very thin - maybe .010) into a tube, oiled it up good with fluid, stuck it down thru the bell top cap into the strut cylinder, and used it to guide the new cup/strut into the top of the cylinder, and then worked the stainless guide "sleeve" back up and out and unrolled to get off, then pushed the strut together. WHEW! Let me tell you, I am careful not to pull the cylinder down too far when servicing! To service: jack up (see the pix on my jack in the posted album), remove the gear strut bolt, then VEEErrry carefully rotate slightly back and forth and pull the cylinder down until the cup is just barely above the fill cup. Careful, because you DON'T want that cup to pop out again! I check it by putting a scriber gently into the cup to see if I'm still on the piston. When the scriber goes on in, I know I'm below the cup. I use a pumper oil can with a WD-40 "straw" stuck into the tip which I stick all the way into the fill cup and into the cylinder, and pump in my brake fluid until it runs back out (it's full). Then I push the strut cylinder back up and put the bolt back in. By the way - if I remember right, I had to make the jack raise 14" to get the tire to clear the floor. That's why I built my special jack (again, pix are in our album on line) -Ron Black N93394
