[John Bagnas]

John Bagnas on June 5, 2013 at 1:41 am #17200

From member Bill Wenkman:

Which Model. There are five. The 300 derated none turboed Lyc. 0-540, then there is the 310 HP. Turbo, also the 325 turbo T-I-) 540 CR and the 350 turboed Chieften. Then there is also the pressurized verzion which I can say nothing good about. Expensive to maintain and operate. The normal configuration was for 8 seats (except for the Chiefteb (10)The Navajo is the choice for Part 135 operators. Good useful load, fuel burns 30 for the 300, 32 for 310 36 for the 325 CR and 40 for the Chieften.
Parts are not a problem, maintenance is normal as there a lot of the 540 engines in use today and shops are familiar with working on them. No spar A.D.-s No exhaust A.D.-s like the Cessna series. What is your intended use?

– Bill Wenkman

[John Bagnas]

John Bagnas on June 5, 2013 at 1:40 am #17199

From PFA member:

I maintain a Chieftain (31-350) in Manassas VA but own a Cherokee 140. I may be able to help with the maintenance aspect depending on what your looking for. I can tell you parts are getting more expensive and difficult to find. Just recently I changed a pilots gyro pressure regulator. Luckily I found one in Canada (as removed) for $650. Another company wanted $2500 for same condition. A new one was $6222, but couldn’t be found even using the online parts database searches. My point is 6 years ago this same valve was $1400 new from Parker.

The 31-350 (74′) that I work on did have a couple of AD’s that are recurring.
1) Flap transmissions and flex shafts
2) The engines can have ones for turbo clamps, fuel pump, injection lines, and baffling, but these are fairly simple recurring inspections

[John Bagnas]

John Bagnas on June 5, 2013 at 1:40 am #17198

From PFA member:

If you own/fly a Piper Navajo please post some feedback for us. How is the useful load? How much fuel does it burn? How are the maintenance bills for the Navajo? Looking for a little feedback.