Flap Motor

Ok, so a month ago our intermittent electric flaps stopped working.

I had time to take it appart today.

After I removed the two triangular side panels, I was able to access the support bracket that held the flap motor.

I removed the flap motor from the support bracket and then removed the flap motor from the rotating spindle.

Before disconecting any electrical connections, I tried the flap motor both up and down. You guessed it, the motor ran flawlessley.

When looking at the flap motor, the worm gear had lots of grease on it, but I could not see any grease moving down the spindle into the motor.

I then re-connected the flap motor to the rotating spindle and tested again. Worked perfectly.

Finally, I had someone operate the flap switch up and down while I held the flap motor and moved it around to see if I had any shorts or breakage in the electrical connection to the flap motor.

Nothing! It all worked perfectly.

Before I put back about 30 screws to re-secure the flap actuator assembly to the support bracket, and re-secure the two triangular side panels, I thought I would check with the brain trust here for any other suggestions.

I too had an intermittent flap motor. I took it out and took it apart. I didn?t see the grease problem others have had. In fact, I couldn?t find any problem at all. Replaced the motor and have not had a problem since.

Bevan.

Gremlins

Little gremlins hiding in with them electrons somewhere? But could have been chased out by your take-apart- put-back- together ( my lame attempt at some levity to ease your frustration) .
It could be poor wire connection and you moved it enough to work again, possibly also wearing of the switch contacts, sometimes just taking something apart and back together fixes it without a "smoking gun" particularly when it's an electrical contractor issue

On the other hand, flap motor failure is a common problem. I thought I had fixed it twice. On the third time I gave up and bought a new motor directly from the manufacturer rather than the assembly from Vans to save some cash. Problem solved. My prediction is that you will be having this problem again in the not too distant future.

Erich

So... It looks like I am starting down this road also at 820 ish hrs.

20 hrs ago the flap motor quit. Started working again before I had it fully apart. I took the lazy out and reinstalled. Smack my hands.....

Friday it stopped again. Fortunately it has been flaps-up on both occasions. This time, full disassembly and cleaning. Grease unlikely to be root cause because there just was not any in and around the commutator. Some at the other end though. However, there was plenty of carbon between the commutator poles. Cleaned it all. We'll see how long this lasts.

I got a snapshot of the PennEngineering Pittman motor part number while I was in there. Probably should get one on order.

**EDIT** After further research, I see the Pittman number is insufficient to get a motor with worm gear installed. Sent a message to Usher for their motor.

Lucky you, mine failed flaps down 100 miles from home. That was a slow flight home.

rzbill said:

So... It looks like I am starting down this road also at 820 ish hrs.

20 hrs ago the flap motor quit. Started working again before I had it fully apart. I took the lazy out and reinstalled. Smack my hands.....

Friday it stopped again. Fortunately it has been flaps-up on both occasions. This time, full disassembly and cleaning. Grease unlikely to be root cause because there just was not any in and around the commutator. Some at the other end though. However, there was plenty of carbon between the commutator poles. Cleaned it all. We'll see how long this lasts.

I got a snapshot of the PennEngineering Pittman motor part number while I was in there. Probably should get one on order.

**EDIT** After further research, I see the Pittman number is insufficient to get a motor with worm gear installed. Sent a message to Usher for their motor.

Click to expand...

Could you post the number of the motor with gear when you get it, I would like to get one just in case I need it.

Do the brushes wear out?

RV8JD said:

Check out this post for the new flap motor part number:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=1278686

Click to expand...

Thanks,
I did not get to that thread. There were many many threads to go through and once Usher was identified, that was enough.

As the brushes wear, they may catch in their holder and not feed out to make contact. If that is the case, you could tap the housing with a screwdriver handle and see if it will release the stuck brush.