Incident Summary
During taxi out from Greensboro, North Carolina, the captain noticed that the aircraft was pulling to the right. The issue resolved itself when the pilot tapped the right brake. Following a normal takeoff, the copilot observed during gear retraction that the right main wheel appeared to be canted out of position. After the gear retraction cycle, the gear in-transit light remained illuminated, prompting the crew to divert to the operator's base in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
After burning off fuel, the gear was lowered for landing, and it was noted that the right main wheel was rotated 90 degrees from its normal position. The ensuing precautionary landing was normal, with no damage or injury reported.
Findings
Investigation revealed that the right landing gear torque link assembly had broken due to stripped threads on several of the attaching bolts. The stripped threads allowed a side load to shear the locking plate during normal ground operations. A review of the maintenance manual indicated that specific torque values were not listed for these bolts, which allowed them to be under-torqued.