Tightened nose wheel swivel two more flats of the nut. Wanted to make sure there would be no shimmy. Tested with slow and high speed taxi, and takeoff/landing. Reinstalled wheel pant.
Was going to make a test flight to check prop pitch, but did a ground run and noted 5400 RPM on static wide open throttle, way too high. Decided to forego the flight check as it was clear the prop needed more pitch.
Removed prop spinner. Removed prop bolts and replaced the Nord-Lock washers with standard washers - an idea I got from the forum. Saves wear and tear on the Nord-Locks.
Checked prop pitch using my standard measuring technique. Found blades at 67.0 and 66.8.
Reset both blades to 66.0. Torqued mounting bolts to 20 ft/lbs and did a static runup. RPM's were down to 5140.
Reset both blades to 65.3. Torqued mounting bolts to 20 ft/lbs and did a static runup. RPM's were down to 4960. This is within the range recommended for WOT static runup. Replaced prop bolts one at a time and retorqued with Nord-Lock's. Reinstalled spinner.
Flew a test flight with following results:
75 Knot climb - 5100 RPM
Density Alt./WOT RPM/TAS 3500/5650/121 7500/5600/125 9500/5550/122
All these RPM's are over the 5500 max continuous, indicating that I will have to throttle back from WOT at cruise altitudes. Probably should re-pitch again to about 65, but will hold off for now. Throttling back to 5500 RPM should still yield about 120 KTAS.
