Undercarriage Elastic Bungee Checks #14

The Stbd. leg softened to almost beyond full stretch even though the bungee looked sound. My safety restraint check cords weren't in fact short enough, although the shorter thein 'telltales' broke and I now see why the previous owner had fitted heavy duty steel cable strops. What would have happened if I'd taken it out and done a heavy landing??
So now I will have to fit shorter ones of 5 or 8 mm abseiling cord which should be good for 1-2000 lbs. each.
I get the impression that the geometry is such that the bungee and stiffness gets weaker as the leg extends. I had given the wings a good old waggle before the taxi test which showed the port leg as functioning OK, so I certainly didn't expect anything untoward; so I think that even normal landings may have been banging those wire strops quite hard enough. [Vince].

As per Vince's recommendation, I bought some Nylon cord which is naturally stretchy and took a few turns alongside & tied them off to supplement the bungees as a shock stop. This feels better on landing and seems to stop that excess stretch movement of the u/c beyond the reasonable mechanical limits. Inspection underneath the U.V. covers shows no ill effects.
However too short and they'll reduce the shock absorbing function, too long and it'll have no effect