MTV-15 prop hub on 2007 super d scrap after 492 hours

D

dickeyjs

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Jun 13, 2023
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SF Bay Area
Mostly I just want to complain about this, but I am curious if anyone else has had the same problem. We bought a 2007 super d in February which now has about 492TT. It was delivered from the factory with a MTV-15-B-C composite prop. In 2017 with 168TT the prop was overhauled and then 2 years later it was resealed. We put about 50 hours on it when it started leaking grease badly so we sent if off for overhaul. A couple days after the shop had the prop we heard the hub was scrap. Apparently MT uses a SS sleeve in the aluminum hub where the blade O ring goes. The O ring seals the blade to the hub, according to the shop. Anyway the shop said the sleeve came loose and was moving around, and in the process damaged the aluminum hub beyond repair. We had to buy a factory new hub for $4000, in addition to paying the price of an overhaul which came to a grand total of almost $12k. That sucked... I could understand corrosion on a 19 year old hub maybe, but it's hard to imagine how it could fail mechanically at 492TT and 324SOH. I really like how smooth this prop is and the performance seems to be great, but I'm pretty disappointed in the reliability.
 
You lucky guy. I have a buddy with 3-bladed MT, and the maintenance facility did a runup in an area with stones. I had a photo - unbelievable blade damage. $14,000 each time.

Happened twice!

We have a restriction against runups in hangar areas, but it is routinely ignored. You should see what a runup can do to an unsuspecting Cub driver.

New props have gone nuts. My old $300 wood Sensenich props are now worth $3000 used!
 
Ja, MT props are kind of notorious for being prone to grease leaks which require a trip to the service facility. When I was restoring 7DW is was either going to be an aluminum Hartzell or the composite Hartzell, no MT for me. Went with the composite Hartzell, great prop
 
We had a guy who put about 50 hours a year on a Husky with metal Hartzell - he would overhaul at five years, making the overhaul period around 250 hours.

One of the things you can do if you have great wealth is just inject money into the economy, and apparently this guy has great wealth. And a lot of really nice airplanes that never fly, yet get top drawer maintenance. Keeps folks employed. So, ok with me.

I am not that lucky.
 
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