Am I reading this right that you can buy 4 of the old style with paperwork and a fresh 500 hour service?
No, we buy the newer style (P/N 78033-000, no AD) torque links. 4 serviceable used ones are about the same a a single brand new one from Piper. ~$850 last time I bought a set from Wentworth I think. Piper (via Aviall is $820 for one).
Thanks. I submitted a request to Wentworth to see what they may have.
Updating this thread. I just received some links from Wentworth and I going to have to return them. One is beat up pretty bad and likely not airworthy. I would think even the replacements would need to be painted and inspected before installation so I'll keep looking and maybe keep what I got.
One of the downsides to buying used. One trick I've used with the advent of technology is to have them send multiple pictures of the item before purchase.
The torque links are the ONLY thing holding the gear on the plane. So, the greatest stressor is ...
We actually just went through this with them as well for the first time (have probably bought a half dozen or so sets over the last couple years). We have gotten good ones on the first try previously, but this this most recent time ended up having to get 5 pairs to get 2 good pairs. They covered all the back and forth shipping and made it right, though. One of the pairs we got was so bad the greaser bolt was actually super tweaked, so it just seemed like they weren't even doing a cursory pre-inspection of them, unlike times past. Unfortunate that we had to do the back and forth, but at like $450/pair vs $900+ each for new it's still large savings.Updating this thread. I just received some links from Wentworth and I going to have to return them. One is beat up pretty bad and likely not airworthy. I would think even the replacements would need to be painted and inspected before installation so I'll keep looking and maybe keep what I got.
But I've heard the inspection of the old style is not trivial.
I returned mine for a complete refund. I had to pay the shipping to send it back. I will most likely just have what I've got inspected and go from there. One of the links looked like it would pass but the other one looked like it had used as a hammer.
Outside of a design flaw, poor maintenance of the torque links as that will significantly multiple any "stressor event."
So... sample size of one, but my field has a pretty strong crosswind and the links on the wheel touching down first were the ones that showed cracks. So probably side loading the gear doesn't do them any favors.
