Engine mount question

[Bill3558]

I recently had the pleasure of Mad Hatter visiting my hanger and he pointed something out to me that’s been bugging me since. The spinner and cowling don’t align properly. See pic. There is about a quarter inch vertical gap between the spinner and the cowling opening.  What do you guys think?  Should I leave well enough alone or do something about it?  

[Madhatter]

If it's centered leave it alone

[Tom Baker]

As long as it is not rubbing, I would wait until a rubber replacement when everything is apart. I also think that some don't replace the engine mount rubbers when they do a replacement, and that lets the engine sag a little.

[Bill3558]

Thanks gents.  I’m not going to mess with it. 

[Bill3558]

Not to belabor the point, is this motor mounts slight distortion normal?  

[FlyingMonkey]

14 hours ago, Bill3558 said:

Not to belabor the point, is this motor mounts slight distortion normal?  

That’s a lot of sag.  Mine look centered in the mount, I replace them every rubber change.  I have the same spinner you do, but the upper lip of my top cowl sits inside the spinner lip, not above it like yours is.  It looks to me like your engine has quite a bit of sag to it.
 

Like Tom said if it’s not rubbing, or causing any weird thrust line changes (requiring excessive trim) then it’s probably not a dangerous condition.  But when is your rubber change due?  I might let that go a year, probably not four years…

[Madhatter]

All engine mounts sag regardless of type aircraft. 310 ,Baron, 150, j3, etc. It's how much, how old, and is the rubber physically deteriorated.

[Tom Baker]

13 hours ago, FlyingMonkey said:

That’s a lot of sag.  Mine look centered in the mount, I replace them every rubber change.  I have the same spinner you do, but the upper lip of my top cowl sits inside the spinner lip, not above it like yours is.  It looks to me like your engine has quite a bit of sag to it.
 

Like Tom said if it’s not rubbing, or causing any weird thrust line changes (requiring excessive trim) then it’s probably not a dangerous condition.  But when is your rubber change due?  I might let that go a year, probably not four years…

Your CTSW and the CTLS use different mount rubbers.

[FlyingMonkey]

11 hours ago, Tom Baker said:

Your CTSW and the CTLS use different mount rubbers.

Makes sense, but if they are in good shape shouldn't the CTLS ones still be centered and not sagging that far?

[shiny.ice]

Took a pic of my CTLS gap. 2015 model, 400ish hours.

Not a complaint, not a problem, just sharing a data point.

[Tom Baker]

1 hour ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Makes sense, but if they are in good shape shouldn't the CTLS ones still be centered and not sagging that far?

The rubbers on the CTLS are not contained in the tube as tightly as those on the CTSW, so they will sag more.

[Anticept]

Mine sags a little too. It's pretty normal to see.

[procharger]

Mine has never saged since I bought plane 2007 ctsw.

[Animosity2k]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:43 AM, shiny.ice said:

Took a pic of my CTLS gap. 2015 model, 400ish hours.

Not a complaint, not a problem, just sharing a data point.

Mine looks the same.