Starting the process of buying my first plane...advice needed

Clark1961 said:
Prop re-seal and new ignition harnesses seem to be the order of the day after the voltage regulator replacement.
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It'll be interesting to hear what you find when you shop that prop re-seal. Rocky Mtn told us they don't do them anymore, they set up the shop for overhauls only (probably for liability reasons, my guess), but because they don't do re-seals or anything but full overhauls anymore, they upped their efficiencies in the shop and the complete overhaul prices are low.

Price for a full overhaul on our particular prop was low enough, if we had a leak we'd just overhaul it.
 
denverpilot said:
It'll be interesting to hear what you find when you shop that prop re-seal. Rocky Mtn told us they don't do them anymore, they set up the shop for overhauls only (probably for liability reasons, my guess), but because they don't do re-seals or anything but full overhauls anymore, they upped their efficiencies in the shop and the complete overhaul prices are low.

Price for a full overhaul on our particular prop was low enough, if we had a leak we'd just overhaul it.
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Sounds like a bunch of BS to me.
 
jesse said:
Sounds like a bunch of BS to me.
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We thought so too and were willing to call around, but it turned out we didn't have a prop leak after all. (Found the source and it was much more minor than that.)

We were also mildly surprised at the low price. A full overhaul on our prop is so inexpensive there's really no point in not just doing it. Rocky Mtn would even throw in local pickup and drop off at our chosen maintenance facility if we didn't want to bring the aircraft (or couldn't) to KEIK.

Dynamic balancing was also really inexpensive if you did bring the aircraft to them.

In all, it may be a "line" but they've been around a long time and two local IAs are happy with their work, as far as I've heard, so... Maybe it's just a local thing.

Seems like they just wanted to speed up their shop processes and not have to deal with tons of different props getting different things done to them. Bring it in, or they pick it up, it's getting overhauled and a spiffy new logbook sticker. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
It'll be interesting to hear what you find when you shop that prop re-seal. Rocky Mtn told us they don't do them anymore, they set up the shop for overhauls only (probably for liability reasons, my guess), but because they don't do re-seals or anything but full overhauls anymore, they upped their efficiencies in the shop and the complete overhaul prices are low.

Price for a full overhaul on our particular prop was low enough, if we had a leak we'd just overhaul it.
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Rocky Mountain was lowest cost on reseal but close to the guy in Greeley. The guy at BJC was the highest. Re-seal is about half the cost of the overhaul and the blades won't be shortened so the next time they can't be overhauled. Pretty important point.

If you get it overhauled then you get a new logbook, not a sticker.
 
Clark1961 said:
Rocky Mountain was lowest cost on reseal but close to the guy in Greeley. The guy at BJC was the highest. Re-seal is about half the cost of the overhaul and the blades won't be shortened so the next time they can't be overhauled. Pretty important point.

If you get it overhauled then you get a new logbook, not a sticker.
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Interesting that they've changed their story already on re-seals and quoted you one. Hmm. Or it was something specific to our prop. (But it's nothing special.)
 
Joe_KansasCity said:
The only thing complex about an Archer is.... well nothing is complex about an Archer. Fixed gear & Fixed prop.... pull nose up houses get smaller...point the nose down houses get bigger.
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The landing gear on a high time Archer can be...... temperamental. And not in a good way. :yikes:
 
from what I have seen as a mechanic, any piper will end up with the same issues if used in a flight training/rental/rough field use. The bolts that hold the gear to the spar inside the wing loosen up and wallow out the holes. Easy to check by grabbing the gear during the annual while the plane is on jacks and all the fairing panels are off. If you notice any motion up inside the wing there will be problems.
Another problem is loose torque knees, also easy to check, grab the main wheel and try to "steer" it with it sitting on the ground (not as easy to see with the plane on jacks), slight motion is normal, but I have seen them so bad that the wheels would "swivel" in and out in sync to brake inputs.
The nose gear is part of the engine mount, there are good recommendations on the time on the mount in general, as well as what to do for rust in the air frame maint. manual. Any cracks are serious and need to be addressed by a certified welding shop.
Slop in the nose torque links needs to be addressed as well as the steering linkage and shimey dampener.
Piper gear is dead simple compared to most other aircraft, the biggest thing to look for is flat/leaking struts, but even there most likely a simple O-ring and new fluid will solve that. Corrosion inside the struts and pitting on the strut chrome or axle is about the most expensive thing you can see.
An Archer has beefier gear (mostly a bigger nose wheel) than a Cherokee.
 
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I'm sure most of us have seen the picture of the piper flying around with no lower strut, as it departed the aircraft at or after take off.:hairraise:
 
We saw a well-maintained T-Arrow that had developed corrosion under the clamps and protective sleeves for heat shields on the motor mount. Kinda scary.
rowerwet said:
I'm sure most of us have seen the picture of the piper flying around with no lower strut, as it departed the aircraft at or after take off.:hairraise:
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