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Beech on a Budget
Safe • Legal • Low Cost
www.bonanza.org
By Mike Caban
Flap Motor Removal
& Replacement
As we begin a new year with our Beechcraft
airplanes, the fleet continues to age, as do
the airframe parts that have been in
undisturbed service for decades in some
cases. One of those items that soldiers on day in and day
out surely has to be the flap motor. With the kind of duty
cycle they see, it’s not hard to see why they can give
thousands of hours in service.
Just in…
the last new factory controls
out of Beechcraft
I’ve reached the point in ownership and maintenance
of my B55 (eight years) where I seek out components I
feel have given the airframe and me enough service life.
This past annual I decided that 4600 hours TIS (Time in
Service) for my flap motor was enough. I’ve heard the
horror stories of flap motors that go intermittent, and
folks slamming their center armrests down to “shock” a
brush and armature combo into action – and that wasn’t
something I wanted to deal with.
I located a serviceable flap motor core for $50 at the
Air Salvage of Dallas summer sale, and had it freshly
refurbished and sitting on my shelf. A word of caution
regarding serviceable flap motor cores: Ensure that the
four threaded holes in the bottom of the casting are
not stripped or damaged. This is a weak area of the
design since the housing appears to be of soft metal,
possibly aluminum.
With the seats removed for annual, it was only a matter
of getting motivated for the tedious task of the flap motor
extraction. Figure 1 shows the typical lay of the land
where the flap motor lives within our Bonanza, Debonair,
Baron, and Travel Air airframes.
Let us Exchange or Overhaul your Dual
or Single Control to New Condition.
Rental units available by week or monthly.
Air Mech, Inc.
Toll Free 888-282-9010 Ph. 580-431-2333
Rt. 2 Box 113, Cherokee, OK 73728
email: airmech@sctelcom.net
www.dualyoke.com
Figure 1
14 AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY JANUARY 2013