[Rhodes22-list] Brad's a-hole Heim rod end bearing HMX5FG (Big Al Delete - Not Sailing!)

[Brad Haslett]

Ed,

Not a rebuildable part and there's nothing wrong with mine, yet. These
things are male threaded rod end bearings used primarily for aircraft and
race cars.  They generally fail from fatigue and corrosion where the exposed
threads meet the retaining nut. I'm replacing every single one in the
landing gear and have all but this one (the rarest and most expensive).  I
had to pretty much disassemble the entire landing gear system to replace the
actuator, which was the bomb bay door actuator on a B-29.  Beech gets $21K
for a new one (not building too many B-29's these days).  Mine was leaking
at the case halves so I sent it off to a shop in California for inspection
and re-seal - a bargain at $1200.  I'll keep your machine shop in mind. One
of my fellow listers on the Bo list needs a lower door bracket, now on sale
for $1500 from the manufacturer.  There is nothing in the regs prohibiting
you from building your own parts provided they are equivalent or better than
the original.  What keeps machine shops from producing these things is the
liability.  If you send them a drawing and ask that they build an aluminum
"flower pot" and it turns out to look EXACTLY like a part you need for your
airplane, that's legal to install.  I'm in the wrong business - should of
gone to law school.

Brad

On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 10:13 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:

>
> Brad,
>
> Do you have the old one?  Can it be rebuilt?  Will they accept a dupicate
> made in a machine shop?  Consider having this guy duplicate it:
>
> http://www.jbtek.com/
>
> Ed K
> Greenville, SC, USA
> A strongback is a beam or girder which acts as a secondary support member
> to
> existing structure.  In shipbuilding, a strongback is oriented lengthwise
> along a ship to brace across several frames in the case of hull damage.
>
>
>
> --
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> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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