- Joined
- Oct 29, 2019
- Messages
- 166
- Reaction score
- 40
I was doing some pre-takeoff and runup checks on my 1984 Dakota yesterday when I discovered that the trim wheel would only move towards the "nose down" direction - either using electric trim or manual manipulation. The trim wheel seemed to be simply "stuck" when attemping to move it backwards (nose up.). I taxied back to my hangar under the impression that something pretty bad had happened either to the trim wheel rigging or the jackscrew and was going to text my mechanic to see what it could be. After getting out of the plane, I noticed that the pin on the fire extinguisher mounted between the front seats had partially come out and the trigger handle had flopped forward and was acting like a ratchet on the trim wheel knobs! It absolutely blocked trim wheel motion in the nose up direction, but would allow down-trim easily. This would have been bad to discover after takeoff... I replaced the pin fully and snapped the extinguisher back into its bracket, but made sure that it was rotated in such a way that the trigger handle could not reach the trim wheel if the pin came out again. I thought that others with Cherokees of all types may need to know about this. - Curt B.
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