The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Both of my rudder cables are frayed a couple of inches ahead of the pulleys that are attached to the bulkhead at the aft fuselage. It seems the only way to get to this hidden spot is to remove the vertical stabilizer, the horizontal stabilizer, the elevators and the rudder. I doubt that the cables have been checked in this area for 49 years. You can peer into the two slits that the tailwheel cables come out of. But no repairs are able to be made through them. It would be great to just cut two inspection holes so you can do a repair or remove cables. The tailwheel cables seemed to be attached to the rudder cables with a set of attachments. Why would anyone design a system like this?

Koop,from your post,I figure you must have a 55 or 56 B model. I don't know why Cessna didn't design in a better access for the rudder/tailwheel cables in this area,but take a look at the tailwheel steering on a 48-54 model 170 and you'll see why they changed the cable configuration. The geometry is lousy on the early t/w steering system--the chains & springs connecting the rudder bellcrank to the t/w steering arms pull up as much as they pull forward,often resulting in bent t/w arms. The later system makes for a much straighter pull on the t/w arms,hence more responsive steering.

Eric

Koop wrote:Both of my rudder cables are frayed a couple of inches ahead of the pulleys that are attached to the bulkhead at the aft fuselage. It seems the only way to get to this hidden spot is to remove the vertical stabilizer, the horizontal stabilizer, the elevators and the rudder. I doubt that the cables have been checked in this area for 49 years. You can peer into the two slits that the tailwheel cables come out of. But no repairs are able to be made through them. It would be great to just cut two inspection holes so you can do a repair or remove cables. The tailwheel cables seemed to be attached to the rudder cables with a set of attachments. Why would anyone design a system like this?

To inspect them, remove them from the rudder pedals and pull them out at the rudder. I would guess that once every 5 years or so depending on the flying hours should be often enough.

This section of the forum is for the purpose of providing maintenance documentation, so I've moved this discussion to the correct forum.
When you pull the cables out, tie a string/wire to them in order to pull the new ones back in place with it.