REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

[mhorowit]

Among other things (chase the wasps out of 88M), I almost completed removing the tailfeather. The horiz. stab. is held in place with two tubes jutting out from the fuse and slipping into the horiz. stab and held in place with bolts.
The forward set of tubes is loose in the stab., but the aft tubes are a different story. Rusted tight. I soaked them with liquid wrench, set up a vibration and did a variety of other things including taking advantage of the wiggle room in the from tube; placed a wedge there and tried to force the trailing edge forward. No luck.

Anyone had this problem and can offer a fix? - MIke

[Robert Lees]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Are the bolts horizontal or vertical?

[Ray36048]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Had the same problem with a Champ I restored. The stabs were junk, so I hacksawed them off to save the fuse. I put a wrench on the stab stub and turned it off. Sorry, this is not what you wanted to hear.

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Are the bolts horizontal or vertical?

the're Vertical - Mike

[N96337]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike, I hacksawed mine too... but if the fabric's coming off, why not cut a slit and see if you can get something like a 2x4 across the fuselage, and gently "persuade" the stab to come off. Keep it as close to the rear tube as you can and don't hammer on it very hard, or you'll have to repair the butt rib on the stab as well.
JH

[jdoran]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike,

I had the exact same problem.

I cut a 6ft long piece of angle iron, and bought two u-bolts that fit around the 7/8" tubing. I placed the angle iron under the stab parallel to and close to the fuselage, and drilled holes for the u-bolts to attach the leading edge tube and the trailing edge tube to the angle iron. This allowed me to use the angle iron as sort of a "wrench" to gently work the leading end of the stab up and down to brake the rusty fit loose in the back tube. I felt if I didn't use the angle iron, I would twist the back tube and break it loose where the ribs weld to it. I had to use it on both stabs, they both were frozen to the rear tube.

In my case, the tubing was all rusted pretty bad under the fabric, so don't hold your hopes too high that the stabs will merely need re-covering.

Good luck with the plane.

John

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike,

I had the exact same problem.

I cut a 6ft long piece of angle iron, and bought two u-bolts that fit around the 7/8" tubing. I placed the angle iron under the stab parallel to and close to the fuselage, and drilled holes for the u-bolts to attach the leading edge tube and the trailing edge tube to the angle iron. This allowed me to use the angle iron as sort of a "wrench" to gently work the leading end of the stab up and down to brake the rusty fit loose in the back tube. I felt if I didn't use the angle iron, I would twist the back tube and break it loose where the ribs weld to it. I had to use it on both stabs, they both were frozen to the rear tube.

In my case, the tubing was all rusted pretty bad under the fabric, so don't hold your hopes too high that the stabs will merely need re-covering.

Good luck with the plane.

John

John - when you do this, arn't the "u" bolts squeezing the stab tubes? - Mike

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike, I hacksawed mine too... but if the fabric's coming off, why not cut a slit and see if you can get something like a 2x4 across the fuselage, and gently "persuade" the stab to come off. Keep it as close to the rear tube as you can and don't hammer on it very hard, or you'll have to repair the butt rib on the stab as well.
JH

With the access plates and elevator off, I was able to take a 1" wooden dowel, enter from the starbord side, and placing the dowel against the elevator hinge pin bearing on the port side and beat the dowel with a rubber mallet, applying force outward. No luck. I'll try again later this week when the Liquid
Wrench has had time to soak in.Next step will probably be the 'u-bolt-lever-arm-thing' described in another entry. - Mike

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike,

I had the exact same problem.

I cut a 6ft long piece of angle iron, and bought two u-bolts that fit around the 7/8" tubing. I placed the angle iron under the stab parallel to and close to the fuselage, and drilled holes for the u-bolts to attach the leading edge tube and the trailing edge tube to the angle iron. This allowed me to use the angle iron as sort of a "wrench" to gently work the leading end of the stab up and down to brake the rusty fit loose in the back tube. I felt if I didn't use the angle iron, I would twist the back tube and break it loose where the ribs weld to it. I had to use it on both stabs, they both were frozen to the rear tube.

In my case, the tubing was all rusted pretty bad under the fabric, so don't hold your hopes too high that the stabs will merely need re-covering.

Good luck with the plane.

John

John - did you know I'm doing this work in St. Mary's Co.? - Mike

[Marv]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike if you throw the liquid wrench away and use PB Blaster you will prbably have better results. Marv

[NY86]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike if you throw the liquid wrench away and use PB Blaster you will prbably have better results. Marv

And when that doesn't work, get some Kroil!

Plan B - Nothing busts rust like a torch....

[jdoran]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike,

Don't tighten the u-bolts enough to crush the tube, but snug enough to grip it well.

The torch comment also has merit, especially since you are stripping off the old fabric. If push came to shove, you could slide some pieces of sheet metal behind where you are heating to protect the vertical stab fabric, and lightly heat it. I don't think it will need too much heat to get it to give.

You ought to leave the plane there when you are done, at least it's outside the ADIZ.

John

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike if you throw the liquid wrench away and use PB Blaster you will prbably have better results. Marv

Found it at AutoZone; I'll try it out tomorrow - Mike

[mhorowit]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike,

I had the exact same problem.

I cut a 6ft long piece of angle iron, and bought two u-bolts that fit around the 7/8" tubing. I placed the angle iron under the stab parallel to and close to the fuselage, and drilled holes for the u-bolts to attach the leading edge tube and the trailing edge tube to the angle iron. This allowed me to use the angle iron as sort of a "wrench" to gently work the leading end of the stab up and down to brake the rusty fit loose in the back tube. I felt if I didn't use the angle iron, I would twist the back tube and break it loose where the ribs weld to it. I had to use it on both stabs, they both were frozen to the rear tube.
John

This is what you get when you don't read the instructions carefully.
When I got back and re-read what you wrote, I discovered I'd been spending the complete day doing the wrong thing. . Well, I'll go back Sunday and try again. - Mike

[VictorBravo]

Re: REmoving the horizontal stab - rusted in place

Mike, you're not gonna try to pry that stabilizer off with the brace wire connected, are you ? It will be easier of it is not connected

Two large wedges, placed between the stabilizer and the upper longeron right next to the attach bolts, will probably remove the stabilizer. Tap the wedges with a hammer in small increments, plenty of penetrating oil, and you should have it loose in a jiffy. The long pry bar can bend the stub tubes if you try too hard or too much on one side before reversing the bar. IMHO there is less risk of bending those tubes by using the wedges. I would put thin metal on the stabilizer root edge and the fuselage longerons, and let the wedges slip between the metal so you don't even mar the fabric.