At least one Bearhawk owner has reported a cracked flap guide (red arrow in the photo below). The symptoms were that the flap handle was "catching" and difficult to retract fully.
Upon closer inspections, the normal curve of the guide was deformed due to a crack through one of the notches.
The flap guide rail sits in the cockpit and has 4 notches to provide the detents for the flap handle to lock onto, and provide each stage of flap. The flap guide is easy to see, but is also easy to inadvertently stand on or apply a sideways force to. In addition, if the flap handle is forced downwards without pressing the release button, it is thought that the force may be sufficient to damage the guide rail.
Fortunately, it is also relatively easy to replace.
Incidentally, in this photo you can see that the first two stages (notches) of flap have a sloped "ramp" at the aft end of those notches to allow the pilot to pull those stages of flap without the need to press the handle button. I later made the same modification to the third notch as well. After 250 hours of operation this continues to be trouble free and simple to use.
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