Recent content by David Baker

It's a good idea to paint the wings with light colors. "Rudolph" (My Grumman had a bright red spinner) was painted medium brown with tan trim. The wings are actually air tight, so when they heat up, the internal air expands. I was surprised to see how the wings would fatten up during warm...

Those alternators cost big bucks. The diagnosis for my 1974 model was a "Flat Spot" on the winding. When I saw the replacement unit, the manufacturer label read "Prestolite". It was exactly like the ones I replaced in the Chrysler cars I owned. I was seriously pondering a purchase of the...

Earlier versions were having bonding failures with ailerons, and one AD I received--but it didn't apply--dealt with the carburetor. I had the mixture control replaced with a twist model, and I bought landing lights in bulk. There was a friction knob for the canopy, which wouldn't stay locked...

I made sure the FBO performed an oil change and Annual Inspection on the TR-2 before I bought it. I don't remember the what compression values read, but they didn't indicate any cylinder issues. The oil screens were checked every 50 hours, and they were clean. The A&E who performed the engine...

During my ownership experience with the TR2, I never managed 3+hours endurance, no matter how I leaned the little Lycoming. It flew 3 hours to dry tanks, and that was 'demonstrated' on the first leg of my flight to Sacramento (Actually Rio Linda..) from Spokane. The POH was...shall we...

I didn't install a new sender, though that may have been a factor. I just figured the engine was tight with new cylinders/rings, and would eventually wear in to the point where the temps would be comfortably in the green. I flew it about 180 hours until I sold it.

I discovered a flight regime that surprised me: Turning final, the plane suddenly dropped from 700 feet AGL to just about zero feet AGL. I'll assume it was a stall/mush, but there was no buffet, wing drop or pitch variation coincident with that drop. The yoke was not full aft, nor was the bank...

Oil temps were one of the first issues I had with the TR2. I tried reshaping the baffling, lower viscosity oil, topping off oil for each flight and finally running auto gas (STC for Low Lead. That cooled the temps down a little.) But until I sold it, the needle was nudging the red line during...

The O-235-C2C does not make the little Grumman a Bush Plane. If you manage to get a 133 MPH cruise speed with the TR-2, you must be acquainted with Mr. Lopresti. Wheel Pants help somewhat with cruise figures, but 133 MPH was never achieved during my experience with the plane. 7 GPH is a...

On the flap switch issue, you might check the brush spring within the flap motor. It's threaded into the motor housing via an attached countersunk bolt. It takes some doing, including removal of the passenger seat, but you might check that first before the switch function.