The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I want to get my yokes cleaned up and repainted. Does anyone do this?

Most anyone can - including yourself

I did mine with rattle can appliance epoxy white and they are holding up really well.

You could also do a powder coat if you really wanted them scratch resistant. Any local automotive paint shop can point you in the right direction.

A buddy with a bead blaster couldn't get the coating off when we tried a while back. I may try a different blasting approach. He cerakotes guns and we were just gonna dip the yokes in that after blasting them.

I think The original coating is some plastic. I took mine off with a knife and 80 grit paper and took some doing.

Heflin wrote:A buddy with a bead blaster couldn't get the coating off when we tried a while back. I may try a different blasting approach. He ceracoats guns and we were just gonna dip the yokes in that after blasting them.

Rob, From what I recall seeing your videos on YouTube, you've got later model yokes installed...mid-1970s vintage Ram's horn yokes. I believe those are all plastic. Did you buy stock yokes, or am I not remembering your airplane properly?

The original yokes were given to me by the previous owner. I want to take those later style off and put the originals back on.

Therse a nicish pair on fleabay now:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Cessna-170-Steer ... cb&vxp=mtr

Look like early 172 yokes to me.

The original plastic coating is very tough and hard but can be chipped off. The yokes are metal (cast aluminum I think) under the plastic. The plastic coatings on mine were worn very badly and the powder coat guys did the removal of the old coating and new powder coat. They told me to not ever bring in another set.

I saw that set on eBay and also thought they don't look like 170 yokes. I have a set of early 60's style aluminum yokes that came out of my '56, but I really want to get the original 170 yokes fixed up.

I discovered that by using a pair of channel locks, you can grip and give a twist and that plastic coating will crack and peel right off.

hilltop170 wrote:The original plastic coating is very tough and hard but can be chipped off. The yokes are metal (cast aluminum I think) under the plastic. The plastic coatings on mine were worn very badly and the powder coat guys did the removal of the old coating and new powder coat. They told me to not ever bring in another set.

Yeah... those guys probably don't mind doing another set...maybe they just don't want YOU back in their shop?

I was able to peal my yokes with a putty knife. The powder coating guys dont like the yokes because when they bake them they emit a gas which blows bubbles in the finish. It might help to put them thru a few bake cycles before actually putting the coating on and bakeing them. The next problem you will have is recromeing the shafts and then you can buy the original rivets from Cessna for $100 a piece. The rivets are a very unusual size not commonly available. Its not hard to have a ton of money in nice yokes but they sure are a nice touch. Bill K

I removed the plastic on my yokes by taking a razor blade and shaving it off. I removed the remnants with paint stripper and a brush. I took them to the local powder coater and had them refinished for $40. Then I added some Cessna 170B decals that I had he local graphics shop make and the yokes look better than new.

Here's a picture
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images ... 96d3e3.jpg

Those are nice!