Landing gear problems

After over an hour swinging the gear on jacks, opening the floor, blowing out the vacuum lines, troubleshooting with three mechanics, I suggested they check the hydraulic fluid level. Voila! It was down by at least half. They filled it up and my next gear extension was by the book. One may ask-why did I not do that before all this? I did not even know where the pump was located, much less how to check levels. I assumed and so did they, that it had been topped off at annual six months ago. Evidently, a low level will still allow the gear to retract, but only extend by gravity. BTW, a loose emergency extend lever is designed to be that way for some reason. Anyway, there you have it. Thanks for your input, I told them what you had written.

I give, what was it??

Steve, my gear problem is solved! Gear operation is normal. You’ll never guess the problem-one that everyone forgets. Care to take a guess? I’ll wait for your reply.

Excellent, glad I could help.
Your follow up report is welcomed.

Steve, I know just what to say to my mechanic tomorrow. I am going to remove the rear seats today in hopes of reducing his labor time since this valve is located beneath. Thanks, I will let you know the results.

the electric motor in the landing gear hyd system rotates one way for gear up and the opposite way when gear down is selected. When the handle is in the up position there is pressure on the up side of the actuating cylinders. If the pressure in the gear up manifold drops to 1000 psi, a pressure switch closes and power is applied to the motor to pump up the pressure. When the pressure reaches 1500 psi the pressure switch opens and the motor shuts off.
When the gear handle is moved to down, the motor reverses rotation and applies pressure to the down manifold. As I understand it, the second down pressure no long bares against a shuttle valve in the hydraulic reservoir/control a path is opened for the fluid in the up lines to return to the reservoir.
Again, as I understand it, until gear down is selected hydraulic pressure keeps the gear up in the wells.