LORD Corporation has developed a fluid-free shimmy damper for the Piper PA-28/32 aircraft. The product, LORD Part Number SE-1508-1, will be available to the market in July.
The LORD Fluid-Free Shimmy Damper offers consistent damping in a maintenance-free design and uses surface-effect technology to reduce nose wheel shimmy, according to company officials.
LORD has replaced the hydraulic piston in the traditional damper with a fully-bonded elastomeric piston that provides three types of damping over a wide range of conditions. Since there is no hydraulic fluid to leak out, there is no need to service the damper.
Accelerated life testing of the LORD Shimmy Damper has demonstrated that it provides targeted damping after over 5,000 ground-air-ground duty cycles. This represents a product life of more than 10 years of usage on a typical high-use aircraft.
According to Sue Cermak, Distribution Manager, LORD Aerospace & Defense Business Unit, LORD developed this damper as an aftermarket solution to replace the industry’s hydraulic damper that is prone to leak.
“What makes this technology unique is that it doesn’t contain fluid,” said Cermak. “Therefore, there is no maintenance associated with the part. Just a few drops of fluid leakage can cut the performance of a traditional hydraulic damper in half. With the LORD Shimmy Damper, force and energy dissipation is consistent over time and over a wide range of temperatures.”
LORD Corporation’s shimmy damper technology has been successfully used in aircraft for more than 15 years and is currently being used on the Baron/Bonanza, the Cardinal, the Skylane, and the Caravan.
LORD offers a five-year, pro-rated warranty on the Piper Shimmy Damper.
For more information: 877-ASK-LORD or Lord.com