Getting jacked-up

Mech, Fall, 2004 by Philip LeCroy

Safety surveys have proven to be an excellent tool to identify trends, both good and bad, throughout the fleet. However, one of those bad trends is growing too fast.

Support equipment change (SEC) 3943, issued in 1981, directed that grease fittings be installed on the foot assemblies of specific aircraft tripod jacks with spring-loaded caster assemblies. This SEC was incorporated in the aircraft jack manual, NA 19-70-521, in December 1989. Therein lies the problem.

Whenever a foot assembly is replaced, for whatever reason, the lubrication fitting is not being installed. When I asked one maintainer where the grease fitting was, he said it comes with the foot assembly when ordered through the supply system. Not so. An easy way to prove this point is to go to the appropriate tripod-jack work package. Review the applicable technical directive page to see if SEC 3943 is applicable to this jack. For example, the 12-ton jack (T12-2VH2, part number 1112AS100) listed in work package 020 00 lists SEC 3943 as applicable. A check of the illustrated parts breakdown (IPB) shows that the foot assembly and the grease fitting have different part numbers. This fact means they are ordered separately, and the grease fitting must be installed. Page 13, paragraph 35, step (b) of the IPB also confirms this point. A quick review of the MRC--NA 19-600-135-6-2, card 10.3, step 7.C directs a security check of the fitting, and card 11.1, step 2.2, shows three fittings to grease the foot-assembly spring.

Even with all this information available to technicians, many jacks still are missing these grease fittings. This discovery means technicians are not using the MIMs for repairs or the MRCs for periodic maintenance on the equipment. CDIs aren't referring to the MIMs or the MRC when inspecting the equipment.

Supervisors need to read this information and to teach their people how to use the manuals every time they do a maintenance action, no matter how simple.

Senior Chief LeCroy is a maintenance analyst at the Naval Safety Center.