Nose gear bent outta whack?

[jruhnke]

My plane got towed from my hangar to the shop a week or two ago for some light engine maintenance. Went to go fly on Friday, and something felt odd when pulling the plane out of the hangar--seeemed to be swinging a wider arc than normal coming out and to the left to get on the ramp. Later, when I started to taxi, it took strong left rudder to keep the plane taxiing straight. When I centered the rudder pedals, the plane veered hard to the right.

I taxiied to the pumps and back; steering behavior was consistent the whole way. When I shut down, I used the towbar to check nose wheel turning range, and while the range of travel appeared to be about normal, it was as if the whole gear was twisted to the right--full left deflection was barely to port, and full right deflection was way over to starboard. When the nose gear was centered, the rudder was noticeably deflected. (Not sure how I missed that during the preflight--it bothers me that I didn't catch it then.)

I'm guessing that when the plane got towed, somehow the nosegear got "hyperextended" to starboard, since it wasn't doing this before that maintenance.

The same mechanic is going to look at it this week. What I should expect him to tell me about the problem, and how it's supposed to be fixed? (I'm guessing the right answer is not, "We just cranked on it to port hard enough to get it centered back up", for instance.) Should I expect one or more parts have been damaged and will need replacement, or did something likely just slip and can be readjusted back into position?

 

[JimC]

 

[killrocks]

 

[magman]

 

[kf6iat]

 

[GM.]

 

[jruhnke]

 

[Orest @ CYFD]

 

[TEG916]

 

[JimC]