Skymaster 2.6 Viper strut oil
#2
I had to rebuild my viper gear, use automatic transmission fluid. The volume I replaced was less than half the stroke with fluid and then added the air. I measure how much I emptied out without air pressure and when I added new fluid it was about half the stroke before fluid came out the fill.
#3
There are good videos on the Skymaster website which explain the strut filling process.
http://www.skymasterjet.com/Nose-gear.MPG
http://www.skymasterjet.com/Main-gear.MPG
Badically the strut is connected to an external reservoir full of fluid and alternately compressed and decompressed until no air bubbles are seen in the reservoir. At this point the reservoir is disconnected with the strut compressed and the air valve replaced ready for pressurisation. There will now be the correct amount of fluid in the strut.
Incidentally Skymaster recommend R/C car silicone damper fluid.
Hope this helps,
Malcolm
http://www.skymasterjet.com/Nose-gear.MPG
http://www.skymasterjet.com/Main-gear.MPG
Badically the strut is connected to an external reservoir full of fluid and alternately compressed and decompressed until no air bubbles are seen in the reservoir. At this point the reservoir is disconnected with the strut compressed and the air valve replaced ready for pressurisation. There will now be the correct amount of fluid in the strut.
Incidentally Skymaster recommend R/C car silicone damper fluid.
Hope this helps,
Malcolm
#4
I looked at those videos when i did mine and they dont help much in the main video he takes all the oil back out of the strut before he recaps it and adds air. If you haven't replaced the oil its an easy check, mine I released the pressure and flipped the gear so the oil was away from the fill valve. I collapsed the gear until I saw oil then stopped, I noted how much of the piston was inside the strut, It was about half the over all travel maybe just a hair less than with oil, if you put to much oil you will blow the seal since the oil cannot compress it most go somewhere. From the video it looks like they just lube the strut and use all air, but when I emptied mine it had about half the filler syringe worth of oil in it and it was red color like and the same thickness as sewing machine oil. I was going to use the car strut fluid but its super thick and wasn't what the factory put in mine so who knows at this point.
Not saying it means anything but when I just used air without oil inside the piston wouldnt hold the weight of the jet, once i serviced it back to the level and added air it seemed to hold the jet fine even with full fuel. Other than putting too much oil I dont think there is a wrong answer for this.
Not saying it means anything but when I just used air without oil inside the piston wouldnt hold the weight of the jet, once i serviced it back to the level and added air it seemed to hold the jet fine even with full fuel. Other than putting too much oil I dont think there is a wrong answer for this.
Last edited by FenderBean; 12-30-2017 at 10:27 AM.
#6
I would guess blow the rubber seal at the shaft exit that holds in the oil/air. I had to rebuild the original gear because it was leaking oil/air. SM sent me replacement seals and it fixed the problem.
Last edited by FenderBean; 01-02-2018 at 05:17 PM.