Cessna 140 purchase and question about gear box

[mbruffy]

Good afternoon, looking for some insight on a 140 I’m in the process of purchasing. It just went through a prebuy and there were just some minor findings but was concerned about one in particular. There was a crack found in the aluminum near the landing gear box. The wording from mechanic is: “On the backside of landing gear box, there’s a small crack going down from one rivet does not go through to
the other side, not in the steel”. So just wanted to hear from some of yall about this and if it’s a concern. I attached a photo of it, coming from the middle rivet. Thanks!

[mbruffy]

Here’s the pic, not sure why it’s posting upside down:

[6643]

Interesting tool marks. I would look into it further. The area in the red circle looks awful suspicious, but it's hard to tell without some more of the surrounding area.

crack1.jpg (44.9 KiB) Viewed 620 times

[V529]

The crack looks old.
The tooling marks look newer.
Mostly it looks like some rather poor riveting work was done in that area.

A few more pictures from a few more feet away to gain perspective of where this is located.

It looks like it's either the front or rear gearbox bulkhead on one of the lower outboard corners.

[8281]

You may find the answer to your question by reading the
Service Letter and AD pertaining to the lower door post
on this Forum.

[mbruffy]

Here’s another pic, it’s on the pilot side behind the gear bulkhead.

[mbruffy]

So I guess my question would be is that a concern and is it repairable? And how hard/extensive/expensive of a repair would it be?

Thanks!

[6643]

Hard to tell from here. That stringer looks like it might be bent, too. I'd say further investigation is warranted.

[6597]

I made a similar repair many years ago. About 4K after all was said and done. 90% labor removing the seat pans and other covers. Door post repair was in there somewhere also.

bulkheadbracingA.JPG (52.49 KiB) Viewed 290 times

[mbruffy]

Thanks, it looks like yours was cracked on both sides of the bulkhead. How long was your plane down for repairs? I don’t imagine this is a common problem? You said you did your repair several years ago, so maybe close to twice that cost now I reckon. Attached I also have a pic of another funky repair(?).