R-1820-84C engine change

As I remember it, there were a number of factors. Normal Stateside hours before change was 700. Due to the heavier weight of the H-34 In Country and higher power settings needed to get around, that 700 hrs. was reduced to 350 hrs. Excessive oil consumption also figured into the equation. I remember being told that over 4 gallons per hour was considered excessive. I thought that 4 gals per hour was VERY EXCESSIVE. And then you had some engines that just "got tired" early. If the pilots and crew chiefs complained long and hard enough an engine change could be arranged if a "rebuilt" was available. Sand and dirt that got into the engine oil sure played a hand in engines wearing out early. We could have used an oil filter, but the higher authorities felt that the few hundred dollars to put one on each aircraft "was excessive".

That's the way I remember it.

"Crazy Joe" Scholle
H-34 pilot
HMM-363 67-68

Gunny would kick my butt if it took 3 hours to qec a '34 engine if everything was at hand. I was flying ron's out of mcaf New River when the 'ole round one suddenly became very quiet. We autorotated into the same lz we had left. With only the basic set of handtools we kept under our seat, I had the engine ready to swing when the rescue party arrived with a new engine. Senior moments are easy to come by now but I remember that all the hoses and lines were quick disconnect. Once you disconnected the clutch, throttle cables, and the hoses, you were good to go on taking the top engine mount bolts out. Then the engine swung down with the shaft upwards. A hoist was attatched and the bottom bolts removed. Once the old engine was out of the way, the new one was rolled in and the processess reversed. Maybe the hoist was attatched before the top bolts were removed. No sweat.

CJ's correct in that many factors are involved in r and r of a motor. Some are hours of flt, loss of power, overspeed/torque, essesive oil useage etc. The discission id made by Maintenance Control, with the agreement of eng mech's and QAR's I seem to remember that it did not take 4 hours even when left for reserves to do to complete a swap out.
George how quite did it get? I had two T58's go quite and a whisper was like a shout that quite.

A couple of other items from the memory banks.

Multiple chip lights could get you a new engine.

Also, the time to swap out the engine was in the two plus hr range, however, sometimes getting the throttle tension correct could take a week!