Maintenance photos

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Maintenance photos

THANKS! Everyone for the great ideas.

I plan to get some wintergreen oil so at least my breath will be fresh while I say all the "special words" whilst getting the stud out.

I understand the welded washer and nut trick now, and I know I have enough stud protruding to get a weld on it. I have been using PB Blaster and acetylene, tried Kroil also, but I will switch to wintergreen, welding and vibration. If all else fails I do know how to drill and helicoil, but that is last resort.

I really don't want to pull this jug... I just don't know what else will break.

[mikeg]

Re: Maintenance photos

Mark,
If it's that tight just drill it out and install a thread insert. Or you can remove the cylinder and have a shop pull it for you. It would be a shame to see photos on a Piper site of a botched job.
EO

We used to EDM them out. Most engine shops are set up to do that. Unfortunately, the cylinder has to come off.
Mike

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Maintenance photos

We used to EDM them out.

Had me going Mike! I wondered how Electronic Document Management could remove a stud..
Now I am more educated.

[flyguy]

Re: Maintenance photos

That tap on it stuff really works. Nothing worked on a problematic stud that I was trying to remove, a while back, until I tried tapping on it. Bingo easy.
DC

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Maintenance photos

Well, I don't have to worry about the frozen exhaust stud any longer
I bit the bullet and removed the cylinder so I could work on it indoors and discovered a large crack in the cylinder head

For those keeping score, here is a list of the 20 unairworthy items I discovered on this annual. And there are many more repairs than just these show stoppers that I have to do. To paraphrase Hank - watch out for those slimy, sneaky mechanics and NEVER let one go out with your sister. OK, I took a little liberty with Hanks advice Having said that, I believe a good preflight should have caught 13 of these items.

-------------
Nose strut tube is pitted beyond repair.

Nose oleo has no air pressure and is being held in place with a rubber sleeve and two radiator clamps.

Propeller is severely corroded

#1 cylinder has large exhaust leak. With #1 sparkplug badly corroded and the exhaust port is pitted from severe blow-by. #1 cylinder has a stripped exhaust stud hole and burned cooling fins.

#4 Cylinder has large exhaust leak. #4 cylinder is cracked from the spark plug boss to the exhaust port.

Support strut from oil pan to right side of nose bowl is rusted through.

The ELT controller at the pilot position is NOT the correct part for the Ameri-King ACK 450 ELT that is installed. There is NO wire leading from the pilot position to the ELT.

Lord mounts are cracked and engine is sagging.

Intake rubber hoses are dry rotted and frayed.

Nose oil seal is leaking severely.

Throttle placard missing for AD 72-24-02.

Bare wires on the knife splices to the landing light.

Need to process an STC for the already accomplished RG battery installation.

The air filter appears to be MANY years old and totally caked with dirt.

Alternator belt is worn, cracked and must be replaced.

The undocumented foam rubber in the bottom of the fuselage has become saturated with water.

Undocumented alternator change. Logs indicate that the alternator is a Prestolite, but the actual alternator is a Chrysler.

All six wheel bearings had dry cracked grease which had probably not been replaced in several years.

Brake fluid has been serviced with motor oil.

Left brake shoes are worn down below the wear indicators.

[guns68]

Re: Maintenance photos

this is just criminal! Does the owner have a death wish as well? You should add a 10% "you've got to be kidding" premium to your bill.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Maintenance photos

I wouldn't add anything extra to the bill (and can't see you doing it either). You are about to become one of the "Golden Mechanics" whose name will be mentioned in reverence forever by this guy.
Making this guys plane safe and usable for a fair price will restore SO MANY of his friends faith in folks like us you won't believe it. There are a lot of fair, honest, safe maintenance people out there who get lumped into the group with the dishonest JERKS who do the kind of maintenance you are having to redo now it disgusts me.
You are going to be proud of all the hard work you put into this heap to make it something you would let your own family fly in.
Hank

Now if you could just get hold of the last mechanic and place a 2x4 smartly across the bridge of his nose, followed by hanging his filthy hide to the perimeter fence with zip strips as an example, we would all feel better!

[Marv]

Re: Maintenance photos

Why should Mark take a loss because this guy was to cheap to get a prebuy inspection? Charge him a fair price and show him why you had so many extra hours work involved and tell him you would advise a prebuy next time. I dought if he will appreciate the help anyway, because he will think he is ripping him off with all the parts he will have to charge him for anyway. Marv

[guns68]

Re: Maintenance photos

The 10% comment was tongue in cheek.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Maintenance photos

Never said not to charge a fair price, just not to charge a "penalty", which Mark never would.
I think when the owner sees all of the things that were found and corrected, his anger will be focused on himself for not getting it looked at before closing the deal and the seller for dumping a POS on a buyer who didn't know what he was getting in to.
This is one reason I like this group. There seems to always be someone close to help a new buyer get an independent assessment of his purchase and those of us who are regulars wouldn't dump an unsafe plane on an unsuspecting buyer. There are a lot of "piles of parts" around, but you will get a fair assessment from this group as to what it is worth and what it will take to bring it back (plus lots of free help to get it flying).
The Piper group needs to take a lesson. This kind of thing hurts a good planes reputation.
Hank

[3Dreaming]

Re: Maintenance photos

Guys, go back and read the first post. It sounds like the guy has owned the airplane for a while and just been getting poor maintenance. Tom

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Maintenance photos

You're right. Same effect as far as the Tribe goes. The Piper owners need a group like ours so that this guy would have had a chance to better understand his airplane and see that it's condition was deteriorated.

The beauty of the Tribe is when any of us finds a problem one of the first things we do is post to the rest of the group to see if anyone else has seen (and fixed) anything similar. Look at all the inspection techniques and maintenance tips we see on here. Everything from prop bolts to tail wheel spring configurations gets covered here and I think the average Taylorcraft benefits from it. Our A&Ps and IAs see us as an asset towards keeping our planes safe.

Always scares me when I talk to someone who thinks maintenance of their plane is their mechanics responsibility. Unless he will fly with you every time, he has a lot less invested in the work being done right. Worst that will happen to him is he gets in trouble for screwing up. The owner/pilot dies. Good thing most mechanics are pretty good. We should be dedicated to making all of them the best they can be, on ALL types.

Hank

[Robert Lees]

Re: Maintenance photos

I've moved this to Daily Taylorcraft Discussion because it has relevance to maintenance issues (and ownership issues) of Taylorcraft too.

[mikeg]

Re: Maintenance photos

Had me going Mike! I wondered how Electronic Document Management could remove a stud..
Now I am more educated.

Too many TLAs and FLAs in this world. (TLA=Three Letter Acronyms / FLA=Four Letter Acronyms). EDM=Electrical Discharge Machining.
:-)
Mike

[Dennis Keels]

Re: Maintenance photos

I can't believe anybody that has walked around a airplane let a lone buy one didn't find at lease one thing wrong that would make him check it out a little better.