Rudder and Tail wheel cable assembly

Dr. Dave · Post by **Dr. Dave** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 4:40 pm

I don't get much chance to get on the site lately but I am doing my annual and noticed a warning posted here about pulling the horizontal stabalizor and "really" inspecting the cables pulley/fair-lead assembly inside the tail cone...

Luckily I have an inspection port on the lower right hand side beneath the horizontal stabilizer.... I was able to feel around and see a fair bit and did discover a problem!

My rudder control cable assembly passes into the tail cone quite high up and after passing through a large pully have two shorter cables attached to them, which then pass forward through the same pulley and downwards and cross each other to opposite sides, through another set of pulleys.... then these short cables pass rearward and out through the lower sides of the tail cone and attach to the tail wheel assembly...

My problem was, that I discovered that where the two short cables cross each other they are actually rubbing against each other!! Not a safe situation! My mechanic thinks that I need to remove one cable and re-route it so that it crosses behind, instead of in front of its mate?? However he is guessing, and there does not seem to be that much tension now at the point where they cross that I would expect the situation to improve any by simply re-routing them... On close inspection, I noticed that the hangers for the lower pulley is asymmetric in shape... both hangers are attached to the side walls facing the same way. This places the two pulleys exactly opposite each other and therefore creates the problem. It would appear to me that one of the hangers should be reversed so that the two bullies are not assembled exactly in line with each other... This would relieve the problem of them rubbing against each other where the two cables cross??

I could not find a suitably enlarged picture in the Cessna manual of this cable assembly.. Does anybody recognize this problem and have a correct solution for us??

Thanks Dave

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:50 pm

Dave, it might be more helpful to use the item/pn's from the IPC when describing these sort of problems.
If you look on pg.107A and 107b of the 170B IPC, you can see items #23 and 24 are eyebolts which attach the lower pulleys to the bulkhead. Also notice item 25, spacers, NAS42-10-16, installed beneath the item 24 on the RH bracket.
Item 23 is AN44-4A (attaches the lower LH pulley bracket) and item 24 is AN44-6A (attaches the lower RH pulley bracket.) The different lengths of these attaching eyebolts and the spacers is what spaces the cables from each other.
Hope this helps.

Dr. Dave · Post by **Dr. Dave** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 4:54 pm

Thanks for the additional information.. I agree that it would be better and clearer to refer to specific problems by part number... Your point is well taken I will try to do that in the future.. A more proffessional attitude can only be a safer attitude... Part of the problem is time issues.. My parts Manual is at the hangar and my computer is at home.. an hours drive away.. In this case I needed help before I could get back there as my mechanic was planning to proceed without me being there as it may be a week or more befor I can get back out .. .. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers..

Dave

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 5:33 pm

Oh, My! That's not what I meant at all! You didn't do anything wrong at all. I was just trying to get the problem solved.

Dr. Dave · Post by **Dr. Dave** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:53 pm

Thanks for letting me off the hook, but.. I still think that you have a good point.. and without scareing anyone away I think we should try to be as precise as possable when discussing parts that our lives could depend on..

Thanks again,

Dave

Dave Clark · Post by **Dave Clark** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:54 pm

Hey Dr. Dave

You can get a Parts Manual on CD for that computer at home. I love it!!

Dr. Dave · Post by **Dr. Dave** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:17 pm

Now that's a great idea..

Tell me more.. How do I lay my hands on one??

Dave

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:14 pm

Is it OK to post a link on here to a commercial site?

Here goes....

See:

http://www.mccurtaintg.com/

Not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:32 pm

How much dinero?

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:40 pm

The IP book (for all three 170s, rags As & Bs) is $20 bucks.
Not bad.... The pages are all in .pdf format and the scans
are very good.

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:29 pm

Just to dispell possible confusions....posting links to commercial sites is fine, as long as it's not a blatant advertisement by someone associated with them. (No free advertising to non members, and no links to on-line auction websites, which can/does circumnavigate the no free advertising policy.)
The McCurtain CD's are a good product. The only disadvantage to them is the trouble necessary to print out pages to take to the airplane.
A "hard copy" can be bought from Spruce 877-477-7823, or Univair 888-433-5433.

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:14 pm

I have the contents of the CD loaded onto my laptop hard drive
(I consider that my "backup"). That way, no matter where I
am (work, home, etc.), I can look up part numbers to my
hearts content.

I also take my laptop to the airport when I know I'm going to
be working on the airplane and need the "parts book".

Fire the laptop up, and all the illustrations / part numbers are
right there on the screen for reference. The "Goto Page" feature
in Adobe Acrobat reader (for the .pdf files) is handy for jumping
right to a page to find illustrations / parts you're looking for.

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:28 pm

Yeah, but Bela, ...what do you do when you spill your beer into the keyboard?

Dr. Dave · Post by **Dr. Dave** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 6:31 am

Well I finally got back out and spent some quality time, with "Charlie"!

The problem turned out to be exactly as you all predicted... Someone had done some work at some time in the past and had replaced the right lower pulley assembly without replacing the spacers part number NAS42-10-16 which should have been installed beneath the eye bolts, item No. 24 on page 107B of the Cessna parts catalog...

I am going to order new spacers, part number NAS42-10-16 and new eye bolts, part number, AN44-60, for the right hand lower assembly. I am going to replace the eyebolts as well as the spacers because it doesn't look as if there is enough thread left on the back side of the bulk head to accommodate spacers. I am suspicious that the eyebolts were mixed up and the slightly longer ones were not replaced in their correct places.

I have in the past ordered some parts like this from Aircraft Spruce.. I am in Canada, has any got a better idea??

Thanks again to everyone for their help and interest

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 6:23 pm

I have bought some stuff from Spencer Aircraft. They used to be in Seattle near Boeing Field but about a year ago moved onto Thun Field in Puyallup Washington. The advantage is that they have (seems like) everything in stock,and I don't have to wait for UPS--I can fly & buy & take it home right now. The trouble is that they seem to be quite a bit more expensive than Spruce, even figuring S&H charges on top of Spruce's prices.
That's why I mainly buy from Spruce.Good prices,great service,& I usually have it in less than a week. They're real good about returning stuff,too.
I try to buy from other outfits too-- like Chief & Univair-- to kinda spread my wealth around

, but Spruce seems to be the one place that has it all,& for the best prices.

Eric

The International Cessna^® 170 Association

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