It's just a little thing that helps so much

It’s just a little thing that helps so much.

There are some aircraft that are just harder to work on than others. I remember a cartoon that showed a hangar with a hole in the back wall of the silhouette of a man, as if he had run through the wall.  The caption said, “All I said was that I was bringing another Mooney into the shop.”

In this case, the Mooney is about the easiest. I was thinking of the Piper PA28 and the PA32 airplanes that have the strut servicing valve in the top of the wing.  It seems like servicing should be easy. Just pop off the cap and it’s right there. The problem is, it’s just a bit too deep to get on it easily.

Of course, you hope the owner isn’t around when you get Mil 5606 on his paint job or scratch the paint while trying to get the gooseneck fitting tightened down. What a pain!

Fortunately, you can save yourself a lot of grief if you just extend the strut valve a couple of inches. Then it really is easy. It doesn’t even cost an arm and a leg. It’s just $35 bucks.

The 16M-SVE2 easily threads on the strut valve bringing the fitting well above the wing making things a lot easier and cleaner. https://bogertaviation.com/collections/aircraft-strut-servicing-tools/products/2-strut-valve-extender