Alternator Conversion
So this is what it looks like when I remove those heavy generators and install the Plane-Power Alternator Conversion Kit. (Click on thumbnails for a larger image.)
Wow, look at all that extra room. And much lighter, too. So what’s wrong with generators? Well, besides the brushes wearing out and causing intermittent problems, the single biggest problem is the fact that they pretty much quit working below 1500 RPM. So that means the whole time you are descending for a landing… lowering flaps, lowering the gear, talking on the radio, transponder, ADS-B, strobes and let’s not forget those incredible landing lights… you are running off the batteries. The generators aren’t putting out any useable voltage for that entire time. So you land, roll out, taxi to parking and shut down and now you have… dead batteries. Has that ever happened to you? Alternators keep working almost all the way down to idle speeds, so your batteries stay charged. That’s the one huge advantage to having alternators.
The kit also comes with a large capacity fuse for each alternator. I make a bracket and mount them in the left engine nacelle, next to the starter relays. I am not a believer in using fuses with alternators but they are part of the STC so I’m required to install them.
Wheel Well Clean-Up & Paint
Now here’s a little project that I never want to do again…
I had a 310 up on jacks for a complete landing gear system overhaul with paint. Everything was out of the plane so the owner asked if it would be possible to paint the wheel wells while they were so accessible. They looked terrible with at least 3 coats of mystery paint and light corrosion everywhere. I mean they looked really bad. I knew it would be a lot of work, so I threw him a ridiculously high number. To my surprise, he agreed to it. Oh well, let’s get started…
Like I said, the plane was on jacks and the wheel wells were empty, so I built clear plastic tents over the wings and taped the edges to the floor. Then I plugged the openings in the fuselage and wings where I didn’t want the sand to go. Once everything was ready, I suited up in all the correct protective gear and sandblasted the wheel wells until they were spotlessly clean, no paint or corrosion anywhere. That was the easy part/. The hard part was cleaning out all of the sand…
I think I spent about 1-1/2 days getting set up and sandblasting. It took 5 days with a shop vac and a blow gun to get every speck of the sand out. Then I scrubbed everything with a Scotchbrite pad and cleaned it again. It was exhausting work.
Once I was satisfied that there was no sand left anywhere, it was time for the fun part… one coat of epoxy primer and two coats of pure white Imron. That only took a day. Several weeks later, I reinstalled the now-overhauled and painted landing gear parts. Look at those pics… doesn’t that look nice? In person, it was gorgeous. And those wheel wells were so easy to keep clean. The paint was so smooth that it only took a quick wipe with a rag to keep them looking that way. He got a lot of compliments from that job…
And I never want to do it again.
Stuff I’ve seen… Broken Fork-Head Bolt
So a few years ago some long-time 310 clients called me. They have a beautiful 310J that gives very few problems…
“Hey Bill, we were flying yesterday and when we returned to land, the gear came down and we heard a very loud BANG. The green LDG DOWN light was on, tower said everything looked normal so we made a normal landing. No problems and we taxied to the hangar and put the airplane away. But we are worried about that loud bang we heard. Can you go take a look?”
So I grabbed a flashlight and let myself into their hangar. Poked my camera up into the right wheel well and this is what I saw…
I couldn’t believe that fork-head bolt broke only AFTER the gear was fully down-and-locked. No damage to the plane at all. I scored two NOS bolts from a shop that was selling off it’s inventory at about half the Cessna price. Replaced both bolts, rigged the gear and all was right with the world. Owners were happy. But this is exactly why “Swung gear, ops normal” is simply NOT a good logbook entry.
Stuff I’ve seen… Cracked Main Strut
This was on a C-320 that came in for a pre-buy inspection. That’s a diagonal brace on one of the main landing gear struts… way up at the top of the welded assembly. Look at that crack. I mean… just how hard do you have to land a 310 to crack a strut like that? And this plane flew in so he has been flying it around like that. And this was not the only damage I found. The entire airplane was the epitome of the old cowboy phrase “Rode hard and put away wet.” This poor dog was beat to death. I don’t know the history of this airplane but I suspect it involved a lot of cargo ops. I explained to the owner that it was neither safe nor airworthy but he just shrugged it off and flew away. Crazy…
