So close, so close and yet so far...

[hilltop170]

I wouldn't drill any more inspection holes in the spar. It might not hurt anything but I wouldn't take the chance, there are probably already too many holes in the spar already if it is like mine.

Once the wing is removed, the spar block can be removed from the end of the carry-thru and the entire length of the carry-thru can be inspected.

Or, as already mentioned, drill out all the spar cap rivits and remove the spar cap for the front and remove the top deck skin for the rear, a pretty involved job. Removing the wings is just nuts and bolts, removing the spar cap and top deck is drilling and riviting. I like nuts and bolts better.

IMG_0056_1_1.JPG

[spduffee]

Dang Richard, you didn't have to go and pull your wing off just to show me what it looks like! Now I feel bad...
Let's hope mine looks half as nice.

[hilltop170]

It's really not that hard at all to pull a wing, especially if someone else does it! The picture was from 2009, Del Lehman (Wingnut) did the restoration and I don't think there were any two pieces on the plane left bolted together when he was done taking things apart. Luckily, everything checked out and knowing the actual condition of the hidden places was worth the effort.

[spduffee]

Looking forward to removing the wing(s).
I called AirRepair yesterday to ask about the tailwheel bracket availability. They stopped selling the individual part and now only sell a kit. Danny, I think it was, stated he doesn't know exactly what's in the kit (O..K... ), but it's $675.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Looking forward to removing the wing(s).
I called AirRepair yesterday to ask about the tailwheel bracket availability. They stopped selling the individual part and now only sell a kit. Danny, I think it was, stated he doesn't know exactly what's in the kit (O..K... ), but it's $675.

What is in the kit (or should be in the kit as mine was missing a few parts but that was corrected) is the bracket and all the other individual parts to use that bracket to include a full set of springs and clamps. It does not include the rivets or the bolt that holds the tail wheel to the main spring.

[GAHorn]

The Service Manual describes the wing removal process. If the fuel tanks are empty, it's a four hour job, with 2 helpers. Have some tall sawhorses handy. (supports or scaffolding....for BOTH sides so it doesn't fall over when you remove one.)

[spduffee]

Is there a service manual in our library? I have seen the parts book and the "POH".....

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Is there a service manual in our library? I have seen the parts book and the "POH".....

You haven't seen the parts books or a POH at our library for various reasons. Of course there is no POH for our aircraft there are AFMs and Owners Manuals.

The parts manuals are also not there. It is not because we don't have them in electronic PDF form, I do. It is because I did not create the PDFs I have, I bought them from McCurtian who took the time (and it takes lots of time) to scan some pretty good examples and make them available at reasonable prices. I don't think it kosher to give away someones work not to mention probably not legal in some form or another.

The IPCs and the Service Manual are being made available my some unknown person who has a rather large collection of Cessna manuals in PDF. I only hope he scanned them on his own making his own work available for free. You can find a link to this site (which has recently changed) in our library.

[hilltop170]

I called AirRepair yesterday to ask about the tailwheel bracket availability. They stopped selling the individual part and now only sell a kit. Danny, I think it was, stated he doesn't know exactly what's in the kit (O..K... ), but it's $675.

The way I always justify spending repair/preventative maintenance money on a plane is assume you pay yourself $10/hr for all the time you would spend researching and designing the parts, sourcing materials, obtaining the materials, laying out the parts, fabricating the parts, and applying finish to the parts. Could you make the kit yourself for less than it costs to buy from Air Repair? Most times, the answer is no, if I could make the parts at all to begin with. Just buy it and put it on, it's a good investment and worth the money. If Cessna was selling them, they would be $2000.

[spduffee]

Well, I think I am completely beyond the point of no return. Jack Nicholson tried going against the grain in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest", ended up getting a lobotomy and lived happily ever after. I removed my headliner (good idea, it was stuffed with HOUSE insulation, soaking up Puget Sound moisture), checked the rear spar (vital signs very strong, everyone deserves a break) and had a good go at the tail. The spar carry-thru at the door post is definitely cancerous (a slight bulge in the forward door post member), but I have a solution for that coming via USPS. The starboard wing comes off Thursday, we'll do a quick look-see, load, lock and attack. The tail is not (yet) as bad as we feared, but at this point - who gives a sh*#. Taking the horizontal members off is really fun. I recommend no-one over 5'1"/115# try to crawl back in the tail cone to dislodge the bolts. I did. I am 6'6" and 285# with a girth that does not match the distance between the bulkhead lip and the vertical stringers. I almost got stuck and thought, "What if I can't get back out? What should someone do on whom I have called for help?" What would they do? Anyway, it's liberating, somehow, ripping out all of your interior - it opened up so much I hadn't seen before, like the massive 8x10 speaker - ought to get your attention at full volume. Or the awesome attention to detail from the guys installing the antennas (Just where IS all that water coming from?). All in all, glad, in a way, this has all happened. Better to curse the mechanic on the ground than to curse God on the way down....

[n3833v]

A Cessna dealer told me that Cessna is trying to rectify the pricing differences so they can sell more parts through the Cessna system. I don't know how soon.
John

[GAHorn]

A recent discussion made it a bit more understandable (if not palatable) as to why aircraft mfr's charge so much for parts and manuals.
Imagine you are the OEM for a product which will only be sold in the hundreds or low thousands...(but kept in comarison with the millions of automobiles and those prices with which the customers are more familiar).....with unimaginatively large engineering overhead, subject to federal oversight/regulation, and scrutinized by thousands of lawyers....then consider how many spare parts you must have on hand to support that fleet...and either keep it inventioried for 60+ years...or retain the manufacturing resources available (despite sub-vendors going out of business or disappearing)...keeping it cataloged, inspected and preserved from deterioration....paying taxes on that inventory each new year....counting on inflation (it cost $50 to make it in 1948 when bread was 25-cents a loaf but bread now costs $3.49 ....a 10-fold increase)... and that cowling latch now costs 500-WHAT!!??!!$$

Helps explain a little bit, at least...

(Our $40K airplanes still do the same job as the comparable $400K newly-mfr'd equivalents, but with a lot more STYLE!)

[bagarre]

Economy of scale only goes so far.

Call up GM and tell them you need a door skin for a 1952 GMC truck and see what they want to charge you

It's just not reasonable to expect anyone to supply parts for a machine as old as these.

It's amazing that so many of them are still flying in the first place.

[hilltop170]

Economy of scale only goes so far............
It's amazing that so many of them are still flying in the first place.

So true! Don't you know Cessna would rather sell $400,000 new airplanes than $500 cowl latches.

[spduffee]

Even if I could pay for a new Cessna, and despite all of my complaining, I'd still buy a classic 170 180/ 195. There's no comparison.