The International Cessna^® 170 Association

My 170A's fuel gauge floats really don't float. Does anyone have a source for replacing the corks used on the float arm? I found a place out in Lock Haven that will overhaul the fuel gauges for $126 per so I was hoping to find a more reasonably priced approach. Thanks.

A number of years ago I had the same problem and used my wife ,s wine corks painted in a couple coats of epoxy resin. Worked well until the gauges corroded away internally. Then bought some new ones from Spruce and used the old wire arms as a example .

So you need a cork which you can scrounge around for and then you want to coat the cork with something fuel proof. Or you could just buy a new neopreme "cork" from Spruce to replace your old.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... ckkey=7057

Be careful, most wine corks are not real corks these days, they are synthetic, and no idea how they hold up in gasoline.

Check this out. I installed two of them last year and they work great!

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... kkey=17088

Joe

Do you just slide them on and repin them with the old washer or epoxy them on the wire?

I installed two of these also...work great. You should replace gaskets when reinstalling. Aircraft Spruce has these also.

You'll have to file down or otherwise flatten the end of the wire then pound it flat again after sliding the float on. Be SURE to get the end of the wire flattened out large enough to retain the float. You don't want it coming off and floating around your tank! Don't ask me how I know this!!

I don't know what the float rod is made of, but it is a fairly soft mallable metal. You can carefully reform the flattened end enough to remove the washer and float. Then install new float, washer , then flatten the end of the rod again; enough to ensure it can't slide off.

Thanks for the advice. I ordered floats from Spruce today.

aviator wrote:My 170A's fuel gauge floats really don't float. Does anyone have a source for replacing the corks used on the float arm? I found a place out in Lock Haven that will overhaul the fuel gauges for $126 per so I was hoping to find a more reasonably priced approach. Thanks.

What is the name of that company in Lockhaven and its pertinent contact info

There are two companies at Lockhaven Airport, PA.

Keystone Instruments does instrument repair and restoration. http://www.keystoneinstruments.com/

Airparts of Lockhaven. http://www.airpartsoflockhaven.com

Keystone is great for instruments, airspeed indicators, altimeters and such and I recommend them for that. Airparts has airplane parts and offers some resto of primarily Piper gauges through other vendors such as and including Keystone. I've not done business with them because the occasion has not presented itself.

I would not send my Cessna mechanical fuel gauge to either of these businesses. Besides the float, not much else to be or that can be repaired.

When I installed new floats on my gages I simply soft soldered a plain washer on the end of the rod to hold the float on. Just used the electric soldering gun --- NO TORCH.
I "Tinned" both the rod and the washer before assembly to make the solder flow quickly and keep the heat down.

I did get the new floats installed and they work pretty good. I suspect the gauges were never the best from the git go because they seem to swing the needle quite a bit in flight. But they are better than they were. Thanks for your help everyone.