That actuator failure on a 737 cost us 6 hours and a delay

Last Tuesday I was doing a preflight run on a 737-800 and the left thrust reverser actuator just seized up. No warning, no codes, just a solid lock halfway through the test. Took me and the lead 45 minutes just to get the cowling off because a bolt was rusted in place. Then we found the actuator rod had snapped clean inside the housing, not something you see every day. Had to pull the part from a spare at a shop 30 miles away, which meant a two hour wait. Ended up pushing the departure back by over 6 hours total. Anyone else dealt with random actuator failures on these older 737s?

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lindaw291d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, tell me about it. I had a similar thing happen last spring on a 757 and I swear the actuator just said "nope, I'm done" with zero warning either. My favorite part was when I was trying to get the cowling off and realized I'd left my good wrench in my other toolbox, so I spent ten minutes cursing myself while using a crappy backup that kept slipping. It's like these older birds know when you're in a hurry and they just decide to throw a tantrum. At least you had a spare 30 miles away, I had to wait overnight for a part to get shipped from a different state once, and that delay turned into a whole mess.