1946 T-craft needs mending

[rtite]

My poor T-craft was the victim of what they call a D erecho a couple of weeks back and unfortunately the right aileron was ripped right off the plane. I'm looking for the 3 right wing aileron brackets and 1 bell crank. I did find the 3 brackets at Univair ( $2200.00 ) but no bell crank. Any assistance would be appreciated. I've attached a couple of pics to get an idea of the damage.
Regards, Ron Tite

[kevinbrooker]

I might have the parts. Give me a few days to dig through a few boxes.

[Robert Lees]

Ron:

It looks like the bellcrank is still there inside the wing? Do you mean the centre bracket that holds the bellcrank?
If so, I may also have that part (but not the diagonal bracing arm or the bellcrank).



I'm in the UK but am flying to the US in a few weeks and could mail it from there, if Kevin can't find his. I have the inner & outer brackets too, but they are in no way "as new" condition, although they were removed from my project when it was still airworthy. I can send detailed close-ups if required.

(I replaced all mine with new old stock when Harry was feeling generous; hence having my old ones on the shelf. As Hank always says, "never throw anything away"!

Rob

[3Dreaming]

From his picture it appears that the arm that the aileron pushrod attaches to is broken off. His brace might be okay.

[rtite]

This is encouraging news for me. I've attached a pic of the aileron damage, you can see where the hinge bracket has been broken, all 3 hinge brackets are sheared off in the same manner, so I'm looking for all 3 hinges for the right side, I believe the 2 outer ones are universal for the left and right. The bell crank has also been sheared off, a pic is there I believe you can tell from the pic where it is busted and a piece is still attached to the pushrod. I am located near Ottawa in Canada.

[Robert Lees]

I'd also like to know what a "D erecho" is that rips an aileron off...what damage has occurred to the rear wing spar? I'm going to withdraw my offer for used replacement parts because I'm concerned that a more in-depth inspection is required in your Canadian wing,

Rob

[rtite]

It was a mispell on my part, it should be derecho which is "a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds."

We had documented 190 kmh winds go through the area.

I have the AME coming by next week for the estimate, they plan to do a detailed inspection of the wing, they will be doing the rework on the right wing, I'm saving some money by doing the leg work of finding the parts, if they have to spend 2 days of their time looking for parts they'll add that time to the bill.

[rtite]

If there any doubts I could him contact you for the parts should you make them available for the repair...which I do..

Regards, Ron.

[astjp2]

I am having a machine shop lay the hinges out in CAD, they will be milled out from billet aluminum, probably 7050-t6851 or maybe just t651, more than strong enough and wont have the stress corrosion cracking that the magnesium had.

[Hank Jarrett]

Keep me up on how these are doing Tim! I am working on making replica welded pre war hinges. There is a factory letter saying they are interchangeable. No idea yet on what the cost would be. I think a CNC machined one could be more economical and MUCH less labor! The killer is going to be if we have to replace the middle hinge/bell crank support!

Hank

[astjp2]

Well cost will be a factor, I don’t seem to recoup my labor and money spent for months or years after I do a project.

[rtite]

Would the bell crank be part of the project?

[Hank Jarrett]

The bell crank would have to be in the middle one but I am just looking at the inner and outer hinges first. Center hinge is a lot more complex!

[Robert Lees]

I would suggest the outer hinge is more critical than the others (but since it's the same as the inner one, two-for-one).

An issue with all the hinges is the crushing of the aft wing spars to which they attach; the original "penny washers" used on the forward face of those spars is inadequate, given the now potential 70-80 years that some of them have been so attached, or re-attached.

[Hank Jarrett]

Our design has an enlarged "foot print" on the hinge side and a single plate for the front side with two holes in it. Seen WAY too many crushed spars! Wish we could have attached the plate to the front side of the spar and run the bolts aft so the nuts were accessed from the open side, but there wasn't enough clearance for one of the nuts. The bolts would also have to be attached to the plate which was a bit more complex, but doable.