Bogus Oleo Springs From Univair.

Nathan K. Hammond · Post by **Nathan K. Hammond** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 21:47

Bogus Oleo Springs From Univair.

After reading the post about rebuilding the oleos I figure I should let you in on some possible bad news. Univair had a bad batch of springs (the regular ones) get out the door. Apparently they, the springs, weren’t hardened properly causing them to be too soft and collapse. This all transpired in August ’03 when I rebuilt the gear on my Champ. As soon as weight was applied to the spring (in a press while reassembling in my case) it COLLAPSED about 7/8 of an inch. This in turn caused the overall length of the spring to be too short and not apply pressure to the top of the stuffing box. That caused fluid to continually leak, as well as slack on the oleo. I called Univair and they replaced them, and asked that I ship back the bad ones so they could be tested.

I put the new set on and they seemed to be fine. Then about January ’04 I started to get a leak again. So this August I removed the gear AGAIN, only to find that the second set of springs had collapsed. I gave up on Univair and called Safe Air for a new set. Turns out they were cheaper also, go figure.

So, if you replaced the spring on your standard oleo anytime around August ’03 with one from Univair, it might not hurt to take a look at them.

Ron Babos · Post by **Ron Babos** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 22:16

Nathan: Thanks for the info. It's reports like this that can save people a lot of grief and money. Ron