JGalban via AviationKB.com wrote:

wrote:

I did find these interesting threads over on the piperowners.org
forum, which seems to suggest that the older straight-wing Cherokee
service manual did not have the prohibition against patching control
surfaces.


It might be the difference between an old manual and a current one. I have
an ancient copy of the PA28 service manual and it doesn't prohibit control
surface skin repairs. When a crack jumped the stop-drill hole on my rudder,
my IA declined to repair it (had to reskin). We compared service manuals and
my old one didn't have the prohibition, but his current one did. Word on a
Piper forum was that the prohibition was added to the PA28 manuals by Piper
in the 90s (which would explain why my old skin was stop drilled).

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)


That is my understanding as well. Additionally, you must use the latest
service manual, so repairs done now have to conform to the current
service manual, as I understand it. I don't believe you need to go back
and change old repairs if they were correct for the service manual
revision that was current when the repair was done.