My flying club got screwed over when they bought our Vans RV7 about 2 years ago. I am looking for some Lycoming parts. You got any leads? We need a good crank for a Lycoming IO360 A1B6D. Or maybe a complete engine with a Non-AD Crank in it. New cranks are about 10K to 1 million dollars and 12 months out. New engines are possible but about 5 months out. thanks,
asked a pilot friend of family but he doesn't have any leads on cranks or used engines. he commiserated with your fellow clubs plight however. i dont know anything about plane politics but he explained that most shit takes forever (months) so i understand the post at least lol
Thanks. Its shit situation. When they bought the plane the pre-buy mechanic said the crank wasn't under an AD for replacement from 15 years ago. Turns out it was added to the updated list about 10 years ago and all the mechanics since haven't bothered to check. So now we have to deal with it. If this world was fair....all these idiots who signed off the planes yearly inspection would be writing us a check. But its not.
You can call our parts department and ask for Keith. He’s the parts manager. 1-800-289-7141. It isn’t what we normally do, but he knows a lot about parts. I’m pretty sure we’re a Lycoming dealer.
I used to have an engine overhaul shop. Call my partner, Tom Schweitz @ 703-980-9055. Tell him Pete sent you
what how big are these cranks are they made of diamond for just the steal of a price of $100k ..and the specs... i will go buy the machines and make you any fuckin crank you want
Aren't these engines, for lack of a better term, homologated? Meaning you can't just use any part when you decide to rebuild. You have to go off of an approved parts list, with approved manufacturers/suppliers/rebuilders etc. Lots of part tracing, due to counterfeit parts (fasteners etc.) from the past that caused issues in airplanes. So while you could probably get a billet crank made for 10k or less, you would then have to validate that crank for durability/safety, and once the crank was finally FAA approved, it costs 100k. For one, one-off crank. Hence, that is why service parts for these things cost what they do. No one has time/money for that, other than the OE supplier.
Yeah, for certified aircraft, you need the approved parts. For homebuilt aircraft, not so much. When it comes to certified engines in homebuilt airplanes, i get a bit lost. There is a cottage industry that makes non certified copies of certified engines. The costs arent much cheaper if at all but u get to customize if you want.
Yeah its a pretty big rip off. airplane liability crap is probably 1/2 that cost. but they need to be good and last. the reason we are here is they changed production methods and didnt really keep an eye on things. 23 cranks broke while in flight (some fatalities) due to subsurface defects from hammer forging/heat treating process. So now they press forge the cranks. Yeah its kind of a weird area. I think we may be ok with the FAA if we fly it....we are waiting to see what insurance says. I am ok flying it and if we decide to replace it maybe we can fly it till the parts come in.
