|
If you are interested in having
me assist you with the maintenance of your Yak
52, please feel free to contact me.
If you are interested in learning how to properly maintain your Yak 52, please
go to the TRAINING page for more
information.
As I find
time, I will add maintenance tips to this page. These are items that
are perhaps less commonly known but well worth paying attention to. If there are
any specific maintenance items you need assistance with, please email
me
and I will do my best to assist.
Thanks to
Dave De Simone for this information. The races and bearings for the Yak
52 wheels
(mains and nose) have direct US replacements, available at any local bearing
supply store:
Mains: Timken 32208 and 32209, Nose: Timken 32207.
-
Lubricating the main landing
gear (YAK52 & YAK 50)
Most aspect of maintenance are obvious - grease ALL the grease
nipples, grease the surfaces of the up-locks and wipe the struts with an oil-soaked rag
regularly - but there is one item which is not so obvious. The up-locks are clearly
visible but the down-locks are not. That is because they are inside the operating
cylinder. If you are familiar with the way a compressed air chuck works, (a sliding ring
holding a number of ball bearings against a groove in the air tool connector) you will
understand how the down-locks work. It is exactly the same. The problem is that being out
of sight and often bathed in moisture (from the compressed air) the balls tend to rust. The
lock will then fail to engage properly so that either the gear will not lock down properly
or it will not unlock to allow retraction.
The solution is to remove the air hose fitting from each end of the landing gear
operating cylinder and a squirt a little air tool oil into the cylinder through each port.
Do this at least once a year to keep your landing gear in good shape.
-
Ignition problems - persistent mag. drop or
misfiring
The weakest part of the otherwise robust M14P engine is its ignition harness. The high
tension leads pass from the magnetos through a solid metal conduit to a point behind each
cylinder and from there, through a flexible metal tube to each of the 18 spark plugs.
There are two very common problems which are quite easy to prevent but not so easy to
fix. Firstly, especially in the Autumn, when the weather turns a little cooler, moisture
condenses inside the flexible section of the conduit and permits arcing from the lead to
ground. The second problem, which has the same result, is mechanical chaffing of the leads
against the rather rough interior of the flexible conduit.
To prevent these problems, undo the nut which secures the flexible conduit to the spark
plug elbow and insert into the conduit the straw on a can of WD40 (or similar
lubricant/water repellant) Give it a good spray to both lubricate and dry the inside of
the conduit. Repeat from the other end. (Where the flexible section joins the rigid
conduit.) If your mag. drop was caused by moisture, this will fix it.
If abrasion is the problem, you need to replace the HT lead. An essential tool in this
process is a high tension lead tester. Undo each of the sparkplug leads and connect
the tester to each lead one at a time until the bad lead is found. Replacing that lead
should do the trick.
One last point. Consider
installing the automotive spark plugs and wires conversion kit. This
will eliminate misfiring due to the wiring harness forever. Read all
about the conversion kit by clicking here.
Starting an M14P for the first time when the aircraft arrives in the US, the oil
pressure is sometimes very low. This is usually because an airlock has formed in the main
supply line from the oil tank to the engine. To rectify the problem, firstly
undo the pipe coupling on the right side of the oil tank (viewed from the prop.) in the
center of the tank. There should be a 90 degree elbow connecting the tank to the large
dia. pipe that runs down to the oil screen housing. Slowly pour new oil into the
disconnected pipe until it overflows. Reconnect the pipe. This "primes the
pump". Secondly, fill the oil tank to at least the 14 liter mark on the dip stick.
This ensures a sufficient head of oil so that it can gravity feed until a good siphon is
set up. When you start the engine, you should have good oil pressure right away.
If the pressure is still very low, check the brown oil screen and temperature probe
housing on the bottom of the firewall. There have been a number of occasions when the
housing cracked, admitting air into the oil supply.
Finally, in cold weather, be aware that like many dry sump
engines, the oil must warm up before the pressure pump will function properly.
If you want to know for sure if the oil is warm enough, increase power a
little (say 40 %). If the oil pressure drops, the temperature is still too
low. If it stays the same or climbs a little, the oil is ready to fly.
|
