Redneck repair of the week...

[Missourian]

This is a tube linkage that connects the landing gear. It rusted through on the far right. (Hard to see)



Rusted off...



The other side is rust ON. Nothing from the torch to ball joint pullers would get it to budge. I'm sure there are seals and bearings and gears that I do not want to damage in there...




...so time for plan B. I bought a new linkage bar that was two feet longer than I needed an cut 18" off one end. I still have enough to do this repair right in the future...





...then cut the old linkage 18" from the stuck end. Bought some black pipe with an inside diameter just a hair larger than the outside diameter of the linkage tube to act as a couple.

Put it all together and drilled through both, using four steel rivets as fasteners on each end. There isn't enough clearance for bolts or screws.




Ugly as sin...




...but it works...




As an aside...I pulled out this fancy pneumatic rivet gun...and couldn't get it to work. I bought it for a project that never came to fruition and it sat around for a couple of years.




If anyone has any troubleshooting ideas, I'd love to hear them. Luckily I found my manual riveter...but now that this job is done, I'll fiddle around with the air riveter, re-prime it and see if I can get it working...

 

[Jarlaxle]

Nice.

First, idle question: is it a Manac?

Second: what, exactly, is seized? Is it that you can't get the old crossover rod out of the crank gearbox?

 

[Missourian]

Nice.

First, idle question: is it a Manac?

No...it's an older Reitnouer.

Second: what, exactly, is seized? Is it that you can't get the old crossover rod out of the crank gearbox?

The crossover bar slides over this pin and the bolt runs through both to fasten it.

The bolt came out...but the bar is rust-welded to the pin.