Boeing vs Airbus on engine swaps - picked Boeing and got burned

Had to decide between a 737NG and an A320 for a quick engine change last month at DFW. Went with the 737 because I know them better, but the fan blade retention pins were seized worse than I've ever seen. Took an extra 4 hours to break them free with heat and Kroil. Has anyone else run into this on the CFM56 or did I just get unlucky?

4 comments

4 Comments

nathankim7d ago

Oh man, that sounds like a real headache. I gotta ask though, were these pins on a high time engine or just your average run of the mill CFM56? I've seen those pins seize up on some of the older -7B models that have been through a bunch of hot section inspections, but not so much on the newer builds. Seems like the longer they sit between swaps, the worse they get, especially if anyone's been sloppy with anti-seize or left them dry. Did you check the maintenance logs to see how many cycles that particular engine had seen before you started? That might explain a lot about why you had such a tough time.

taylor9577d ago

@nathankim sounds like you're describing my luck with a seized alternator bolt on my old truck last week.

felixm296d ago

That seized alternator bolt on your old truck sounds like a real pain. I fought a similar battle with a stuck bolt on my buddy's Ford F-150 last fall. We ended up soaking it in PB Blaster for two days and still had to use a breaker bar with a cheater pipe to finally get it to budge. I'm with you @nathankim on checking those logs, though on my own rigs I've never bothered to write down when I last hit something with anti-seize. Its like the universe hates us working on our own stuff sometimes.

sammartinez7d agoMost Upvoted

So did you end up having to drill them out or did you manage to get them free with some heat? I bet that logbook didn't show any recent anti-seize applications (if it even gets recorded, which it never does on the ones I've seen).