I'm about 2-years into owning a "barn find" PA32-301T with fixed gear. The front was bleeding down and after a few recharge sessions I finally had the shop rebuild the whole front gear. The plane is now sitting at max extension most of the time, and even when I pull down on the prop I can't get it to compress. My mechanic said "according to the forums this seems to be normal", but it makes the nose extremely nose high and makes me worried about performance.
On top of that, the mains seemed to be a bit soft. When landing at higher gross weights, they stopped pushing the plane back up and when I was in my space I would shake the wings to get them back up. They didn't do this when I got the plane 2 years ago but seemed to be getting worse. At my annual, to save on the rebuild cost at this time, I had them recharge the mains but they are sitting lower than normal. Before I would see two of the "screws" on the skirt but now I only see one.
Does anyone with a fixed gear Cherokee or Saratoga have any guidance?
On top of that, the mains seemed to be a bit soft. When landing at higher gross weights, they stopped pushing the plane back up and when I was in my space I would shake the wings to get them back up. They didn't do this when I got the plane 2 years ago but seemed to be getting worse. At my annual, to save on the rebuild cost at this time, I had them recharge the mains but they are sitting lower than normal. Before I would see two of the "screws" on the skirt but now I only see one.
Does anyone with a fixed gear Cherokee or Saratoga have any guidance?
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