Lycoming Mandatory SB (crankshaft, again, and more of 'em)
 

Lycoming has asked me (and hundreds/thousands of others?) to retire my
crankshaft at my convenience, or February 21, 2009, whichever comes first.

Check the Mandatory Service Bulletin from Lycoming to see if it applies to
you, but it looks like just counterweighted 360s and 390s that will be
affected RV-wise, and maybe a handful of 540s on Rockets and Supers. My
crankshaft serial # is right there in the list. Here's the SB:

http://tinyurl.com/lh54h

****, you'll be at TBO anyway, Dan. Look's liked I dodged this bullet again. Keeping my fingers crossed. I may have them all stuck together from all that proseal Van's is making me use.

Roberta

Angry
 

This downright p***es me off. I read this bulletin and I see that Lycoming is so generous that they will take $2,000.00 of your hard earned dollars to fix a problem that they are obviously responsible for. That is only the parts. You still have to come up with the 4 to 6 grand to have a shop do the mechanics. This whole crank thing with these guys screams of class action lawsuit.

At the rediculous prices that they are charging for their engines you would think that they could take care of one of their problems. I know that it is expensive to make engines but if the likes of BMW, Chevy, Ford and a myriad of others can give you the most technologically advanced and dependable engines that the world has ever seen for between $3,000 and $5,000 then these guys could do it also.

Certification does not take forever and the cost of certification should not be passed on to the customer 10's or even 100's of thousands of times. These engines are made of simple casts with a limited amount of machining. They have fewer parts and are simple in operation. No variable timing or power monitoring by computers.

I am not even flying yet and I am a long way from an engine. Because of things like this and the insane price of engines I have to seriously consider my engine options. I have two friends with engines that may just be affected by this one and I know that the one will sell before he can layout this kind of cash for a problem created by someone else.

I cannot lay out the cash for an engine and then have to turn around and replace the crank for another 6 to 8 grand. Something should be done to fight these big money businesses that are taking advantage of the little guys. A bunch of little guys make one big one with a lot more brains.

Thanks everyone for letting me rant.

Does this affect Lycoming Clones?
 

Call me green, but would this SB affect the numerous Lycoming clones on the market? When I build my RV, I plan on putting in a clone and am worried that they would be affected as well. Thanks in advance for the infomation. I agree about the little guy getting shafted.

I may be wrong on this, but I don't think any of the clones use a counterweighted crankshaft at this time. If they do and they use a Lycoming crankshaft then the SB would apply no matter what engine it is in.
Mel...DAR

Lycoming SB
 

I haven't had time to read the entire SB this morning but after scanning the table of affected engines, I didn't see any A1A engines listed.
Not knowing my crankshaft part # and serial # off the top of my head, maybe I won't be affected by this one?

The SB is on counterweighted shafts only. If you have a clone, counterweighted engine, of the models affected, and it was made with all new parts, then your shaft is likely affected, if the engine was produced during the timeframe of the SB. None of the aftermarket PMA parts suppliers produce a production counterweighted shaft yet, so if you have a new counterweighted shaft, in your engine, and it was installed during the effected timeframe listed in the SB, then the shaft is likely effected and you should be checking it out S/N's to see if you are effected.
Good Luck,
Mahlon
"The opinions and information provided in this and all of my posts are
hopefully helpful to you. Please use the information provided
responsibly and at you own risk."

Perhaps not the right thread/time, but I have to agree. Mechanical engineering is 19th century stuff, it's amazing what they can charge for a chunk of metal cut to spec by another chunk of metal.

One wonders if it's possible for one of the industrial giants to beat companies like Lycoming on logistics/mass production or if lawyers and certification really is such an obstacle.

One of the arguments against engines from the experimental market (i.e. not homegrown) is that the cost comparison to a Lyc is often small or negative. So if a small, independent company - with all its volume disadvantages - is able to bring engines to customers at similar or slightly higher prices, what could a giant machining plant do?

I bet if Toyota (or whatever) would, they could.

This is the main reason I fly behind a Subaru. If you can't get a reliable crankshaft design after 30-40 years/ tens of thousands of engines and you make the customer foot the bill for your ineptitude, you'll never get my money.

O-320 series
 

Not that this will help anyone with an existing 360 series powerplant, but new builders may also (again) want to consider using a (non-lyc) 320 series engine. There are very few S/B's, A/D's on these engines, and no placarded operating ranges. With F/I, high compression, and electronic ignition, they come reasonably close to a 360's power output. And when you do throttle back for cruise, the fuel burn is much more efficient. :)

Just my 2 cents and another option to consider...

Joe Blank
RV-6
N6810B