Servicing the Early Ercoupe Landing gear pre-S/N 813

  1. Remove the MLG fairing on the side you want to work on and chock the opposite side.
  2. Raise the wing on the side involved. My new favorite way to do that is to wrap a suitable strap around the stub wing to outer wing junction and raise it with an engine hoist - which I have.
  3. Remove the rubber stop bumper from the MLG.
  4. Disconnect the shock strut from the lower MLG leg by removing the nut and screw. Remove the plug in the filler port.
  5. Raise the wing and lower the lower MLG leg, twisting the shock strut to enable the stop on it to clear the stop on the MLG upper leg.
  6. Pull the bottom of the shock strut, the cylinder, off the strut.
  7. The rubber doughnuts with their large steel washers will slide down the upper shock strut, the piston, and you'll probably have trouble keeping them from falling off.
  8. Inspect or replace the rubber doughnuts and reinstall the steel washers.
  9. Slide the rubber doughnuts back over the piston and try to get them to stay up there by positioning them so they set on the aluminum skin.
  10. You may as well replace the rubber cup on the piston while you are at it, by removing the nut in the center of the rubber cup. And make sure the bleed port in the center is open.
  11. You may as well run an automobile brake cylinder hone with a piece of rubber hose on the end to extend it down the interior of the lower shock strut to make sure it is suitably smooth.
  12. Coat the rubber cup of the shock strut piston with some silicone grease.
  13. Slide the cylinder over the rubber cup of the piston.
  14. Before the piston has passed the fill port on its way down, put in about 3 Oz of DOT 5 silicone brake fluid, until the port overflows. Some people recommend sticking a suitable wooden dowel in the fill port to prevent it from taking a chunk out of the rubber cup, and I have seen evidence that can occur.
  15. Reattach the lower part of the strut to the lower gear leg with the screw and nut.
  16. Lower the wing to normal position
  17. Reinstall the fill port plug, and safety wire it.
  18. Go get the rubber stop bumper from your dog and reinstall it. You should not have bounced it,.
  19. Go look at the stuff you crushed when the wing on the other side went way down when the side when you were working on went way up.

Wayne