Thank you for the comments. They are most reassuring.

John

wrote:
The Visitor wrote:
: I remember finding some play in the stab on my Seneca. So the shop
: replaced the bushings. I am going to look in the tech logs to see if the
: bolts were also done. If not, I'll have it done. It's a 83 model.
: 125,000 lp tensile strength on those bolts though I believe.

Yeah... when I was replacing the bolts/bearings on mine, I did a quick
calculation just to make sure. I don't remember the exact numbers, but each one is in
double-shear (both sides of the bearing). That's 4 cross-sections of 1/4" to split
the load over. Not super-special bolts, either... just regular AN stuff. Anyway,
from what I remember, my computation on the shear strength of the bolts concluded that
I could pick up the airplane loaded at gross weight by just the tail, and then shake
it with 4G's before the bolts would shear....

Now, that doesn't say anything about excess material for corrosion resistance,
stress risers due to corrosion, or other strength-reduction due to wear. As long as
it's in good shape however, nothing to worry about... just seemed too small.

-Cory