Nose Landing Gear Alignment - Piper PA-44-180 SEMINOLE Maintenance Manual

ADJUSTMENT OF NOSE LANDING GEAR. (Refer to Figure 32-9.)
The gear up stop is located on the steering bellcrank.
1. Place the airplane on jacks. (Refer to Chapter 7.)
WHENEVER AIRCRAFT IS PLACED ON JACKS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
M A N U A L LY RETRACTING THE NOSE GEAR ASSEMBLY, INSURE THE
NOSE GEAR DOWNLOCK IS FULLY DISENGAGED BEFORE RELEASING
THE NOSE GEAR DRAG LINKS DAMAGE COULD OCCUR TO THE
DOWNLOCK IF NOT FULLY DISENGAGED.
2. Disconnect both nose gear door actuation rods.
3. Turn master switch OFF, pull out Free Fall Control.
4. Disconnect the aft end of the cylinder from its attachment fitting by removing the connecting nut, bolt and
washer.
5. Pull out the cylinder rod to it full extended position. Measure and record the exposed length of the rod.
6. Retract the cylinder rod as required and reconnect aft end of the cylinder to its attachment fitting using nut,
bolt and washer.
7. Loosen jam nut on secondary up stop and turn in so it will not interfere with initial rigging.
8. Push in free fall control and retract the nose gear by turning the master switch ON and moving the gear
selector handle to the UP position. Check the adjustment of the cylinder rod end bearing by placing a
carpenters square with the longest end along the bottom of the fuselage, and the shortest end running up
through the centerline of the wheel axle. Measure up along the square from the bottom of the fuselage 8.25
inches, to determine if the center of the wheel axle meets this measurement. If this measurement is
incorrect, extend the gear, loosen the jam nut on the rod end bearing and make the required adjustment by
turning the bearing in to raise wheel, out to lower.
9. Turn secondary up stop out until finger tight against strut. Lower gear and turn stop out one additional turn
and tighten jam nut.
10. Tighten jam nut on rod end bearing and check that threads cover safety hole in actuator rod.
11. Measure length of exposed rod. Subtract from value obtained in Step 5 and determine that at least 0.06
inches of travel remains to full extension.
12. Adjust shimmy dampener by turning nose wheel stops and adjusting the rod ends of the dampener for 30°
travel to both extremes.
13. Reconnect both nose gear door actuation rods.
14. Push in Free Fall Control, turn master switch ON. Retract landing gear and check doors.
15. Lower gear. Turn master switch OFF. Ascertain that the landing gear is down and locked, then remove the
airplane from jacks.
ALIGNMENT OF NOSE LANDING GEAR.
1. Place the airplane on a smooth level floor that will accommodate the striking of a chalk line.
2. Ascertain that the nose gear is properly adjusted.
3. With the landing gear in the downlock position, weight proportionally on the nose gear and the nose wheel
facing forward, adjust the steering bellcrank. The bellcrank may be adjusted by loosening its attachment
bolt and sliding the bellcrank fore and aft until it clears each steering arm rollers by .031 of an inch.
Retighten the attachment bolt.
PIPER AIRCRAFT
PA - 4 4 - 1 8 0 / 1 8 0 T
AIRPLANE MAINTENANCE MANUAL
— CAUTION —
2H3
3 2 - 2 2 - 0 8
Page 32-35
Revised: May 15, 1989