Attitude Indicator Question

[Defndr]

I have another question. I am getting closer to actually being able to fly my Pacer and was making sure I know how to use everything in it. I visited an avionics shop today and will be swapping out the Radio / GPS and probably putting in 2 GI 275 units. Unfortunately, they are booking many many months out. I am going to have to use the old attitude indicator for awhile. I am hoping someone has used one like this. I can't get the knob to go from off to on. It doesn't seem to pull out enough to go over the pin. I don't want to break it so just curious if there is a trick or maybe it goes counter clockwise all the way to on?

 

[Jim]

Hi,

That knob turns a short shaft to a pair of bevel gears that turn the caging on the inside of the gauge. You can try oiling the shafts where they each pass through things and see what happens.

 

[Defndr]

Jim,

Thanks, I will give that a shot. Is it supposed to lift over that metal pin and turn clockwise?

 

[59pacer]

My memory of these goes back too far, but my vague recollection is that the pin is just a stop, and you turn the knob anti-clockwise all the way to the on position at the stop.

 

[RickF]

It looks like the directions are on the end of the knob but I cannot make it out.
Maybe PULL to TURN??

Rick

 

[Defndr]

I vaguely remember seeing this in airplanes years ago but never used one.

Rick, you gave me a good idea. I’m going to try and put a paper over the knob and use a pencil to rub it. Maybe the letters will be readable on the paper.

Just seems hard to turn and I’m scared of breaking it by turning it the wrong way. I’m sure the airplane would then be down 6 months while I tried to get a mechanic to look at it.

 

[N2709P]

Flew thousands of hours behind those AN gyros in BEECH 18’s, DC-3’s and AT-6’s. Even my 1958 Comanche had the AN gyros. The ones from WW2 had bronze bearings and were bulletproof. The “new style” 3 1/8 inch gyros were junk back then and I did not trust them for hard IFR. The pin is just a stop. The knob should just rotate to lock or unlock the gyro. You might be successful by using a pair of rubber jaw cannon plug pliers to turn the bevel gear that goes into the gyro housing. That worked a few times for me. Keystone instruments of Lock Haven restores most of the antique instruments. They have the experience to do the job correctly and it comes back like new.
N2709P