The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I would like to to re-plate my control tubes. I think they may be nickel plated, but I'm not sure. Any advice would be appreciated. Also.... What's up with the rivets that hold the control wheel on the tube. Part #'s 0413216 and 0413216-1. iwantcessnaparts.com has them listed for $29.27 and $39.90 each respectively. $140.00 for 4 rivets. Cessna must be very proud of those rivets. I guess if they are asking 4 grand for a new fuel valve..... well.......

Yeah, those rivets are really rare and therefore expensive, no matter who you get them from. Many simply replace them with AN/NAS/MS hardware.

The tubes are chromed. After plating, they should be baked for 4 hours at 350'F to rid them of hydrogen embrittlement.

gahorn wrote:Yeah, those rivets are really rare and therefore expensive, no matter who you get them from. Many simply replace them with AN/NAS/MS hardware.

The tubes are chromed. After plating, they should be baked for 4 hours at 350'F to rid them of hydrogen embrittlement.

Thanks George. Any recommendations other than plain old nuts, bolts and washers or is that the best bet?

When I did mine I was able to find longer Cessna yoke rivets that were a lot cheaper, like $5 each. Cut them down on my lathe and made some simple tools to install. Check that out. You can tell the longer rivets by part number. Anyway, the hassle was worth it to me just so I wouldn't have to look at those bolts and nuts.

George requested I post this picture for him. I'm sure he'll comment further about it.

Beautiful, original panel. George, looks like you found a compass card holder since you posted the picture on the POPULAR AVIATION photo gallery. Wag Aero teflon control bushings? Im in the process of restoring my panel back to near-original, but I dont have a glove box or a stall warning. I didnt use the rivets when I reassembled the wheels and tubes. If only they would have kept the glove box with the the plane. If you remove original stuff, keep it to pass along when you sell the plane, God forbid.

I had that pic in my computer at work (which won't let me send out a pic, thanks, Bruce) and thought it might help to see how yokes attached with hardware other than rivets be attractive and not draw all that much attention. Those are polished stainless MS screws and fiberlock nuts that hold the yokes to the control tubes. They are structural screws. (They have a tiny "x" stamped on the heads. Sorry. Don't have my hardware catalog with me in DFW to give you the part nos.)

Thanks, that was just the info I was looking for.
jc

trake wrote:Beautiful, original panel. George, looks like you found a compass card holder since you posted the picture on the POPULAR AVIATION photo gallery. Wag Aero teflon control bushings? Im in the process of restoring my panel back to near-original, but I dont have a glove box or a stall warning. I didnt use the rivets when I reassembled the wheels and tubes. If only they would have kept the glove box with the the plane. If you remove original stuff, keep it to pass along when you sell the plane, God forbid.

Thanks, Tracy. (I believe I have a spare stall warn horn/lite at home but will have to hold off until I return there in a few days to confirm that, if you want it.)

I found this picture on the internet. You can clearly see the bolts used in place of original rivets in this picture. Nice looking panel though!

Considering the price of the rivets them bolts look pretty nice Corey.

I have bolts in my yokes similar in discription to what George has but not polished.

While I readily admit there are many many things on my aircraft beauty wise I don't care about, if I did care these bolts would not come close to making the list of must change items.

Yoke bolts look better with big muddy tires arrrrrr arrrr.

I see where many of us 170 guys are looking to have the yokes & tubes refinished. I last week sent mine to the following:
PowerMax Coatings, Inc.
316 26th Street SW
Canton, Ohio 44706
PH 330 484-6898
Powermaxcoatings@aol.com
Owner Mark Toth

Now for the cost:
Yokes $239.00
Tubes $100.00
Rt. Freight $16.00

Pretty expensive! Waiting to see quality.

Note that the rivets are .216 and 1 1/4" length. Bolts NA4-10 are a little bigger.

After reading the postings I see where a few of the guys are recc that you bake the tubes for 4 hours at 350. Is this a must?
After I receive mine I shall post my findings. FRED

derf62 wrote:(snip)After reading the postings I see where a few of the guys are recc that you bake the tubes for 4 hours at 350. Is this a must?
After I receive mine I shall post my findings. FRED

I think the baking must be done right after the parts are pulled from the plating tank.

Perhaps George Horn should do his research a little more carefully when talking about hydrogen embrittlement. The baking is to be done before the plating process. The plating on the '52 that I am dealing with is actually cadnium. To an untrained eye, I guess it would be easy to mistake clear cadnium from chrome.

Guys its fine to disagree here but its also nice to keep those disagreemnts on friendly terms. I appreciate all coments on the forums and hate to see personal attacks as it can degrade the quality and the friendlyness of the forums. If you chose to disagree it might help if you cite some sources so others can do a little more research and make their own choices. Bill K