Cessna 172 fuel selector

On Jan 29, 3:09 pm, Ross wrote:

It was rather difficult given the two small inspection plates you had to
work though. Then the fact that we had to take the handle position side
off the pedestal to get the whole thing out. After this it should be
good for another 40 years.

Actually, Cessna's 200-hour inspection requirements call for
removal of all those inspection plates in the floor, among many other
things, so that cables and pulleys and fuel and brake lines and the
structure and that valve can be inspected. Every time we buy another
used 172 we find that none of this stuff has been looked at, sometimes
in 30 years. The amount of gunk in the belly, wear and damage that's
obviously been there a long time, and corroded fasteners all tell the
story. We've found fuel strainers that appear to have never been
apart. That's a 100-hour thing. We find cracked rudder hinge brackets,
a common 172 fault, and cracked stabilizer forward spars, another
common problem caused by people pushing the tail down to turn the
airplane. The bottom end of the aft doorposts will crack, too,
especially if operated off rougher strips, and you can't find that
without taking the interior out. We find the bulkhead at the aft end
of the baggage compartment cracked. We find the aluminum fuel tubing
chafed halfway through above the doors and in the aft doorpost, caused
by rubbing on the structure. If that starts leaking in flight you
can't stop it. On those same tubes as well as the vent crossover line
there are short pieces of rubber hose that need replacing every ten
years or sooner. We find those rotten and ready to split. We very
often find cracked exhaust components, something there's no excuse for
whatever, since the cowling's off anyway to change the oil.
We've found crossed trim and elevator cables in Citabrias that
were installed like that, one at the factory, one after a major
rebuild, and all frayed because they were rubbing on each other.
That's a 100-hour requirement, looking at that stuff, and in neither
airplane were they caught before we bought them.
Good maintenance costs money. But it pays off in the end by
avoiding having to replace badly-worn or damaged stuff that could have
been caught and quickly remedied years earlier. It's like cancer:
catch it soon enough and you might live a long life.

Dan

wrote:
On Jan 29, 3:09 pm, Ross wrote:


It was rather difficult given the two small inspection plates you had to
work though. Then the fact that we had to take the handle position side
off the pedestal to get the whole thing out. After this it should be
good for another 40 years.


snip


Good maintenance costs money. But it pays off in the end by
avoiding having to replace badly-worn or damaged stuff that could have
been caught and quickly remedied years earlier. It's like cancer:
catch it soon enough and you might live a long life.

Dan

My A&P/IA requires all the floor plates at each annual. When I first
took it to him the plane was almost gutted for inpection. I cleaned up
all those things you talked about. It was a eye opener. He is very thorough.
--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Ross wrote:


My A&P/IA requires all the floor plates at each annual.

So does mine. I thought everyone did.

I got a chuckle out of the mention of having small hands and arms to
replace the Cessna 172 fuel slector. I replaced one on my C170 and I
have neither small hands or arms, so I DID have scarred ones when I was
complete. My current C172 has an inspection plate on the belly just in
front of the fuel inspection plate. It also had an upgrade to the fuel
selector that added a fuel drain at the bottom. I am in the process of
replacing the o-ring in that drain. By the way, your probably done,
but if not, considering removing all your drains while you have your
tank empty and at the very least replace the o-rings in those. Also, I
found it a great time to add 5 gal at a time to the tanks and mark a
stick to get a good calibration of the tanks instead of just eyeballing
the tanks. when you don't want to go with full tanks.
Have fun!!!


--
daveInDenver
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com

daveInDenver wrote:
I got a chuckle out of the mention of having small hands and arms to
replace the Cessna 172 fuel slector. I replaced one on my C170 and I
have neither small hands or arms, so I DID have scarred ones when I was
complete. My current C172 has an inspection plate on the belly just in
front of the fuel inspection plate. It also had an upgrade to the fuel
selector that added a fuel drain at the bottom. I am in the process of
replacing the o-ring in that drain. By the way, your probably done,
but if not, considering removing all your drains while you have your
tank empty and at the very least replace the o-rings in those. Also, I
found it a great time to add 5 gal at a time to the tanks and mark a
stick to get a good calibration of the tanks instead of just eyeballing
the tanks. when you don't want to go with full tanks.
Have fun!!!



At my last annual we overhauled the my 172 fuel selector. It is no easy
task, but doable. What was Cessna thinking? At the same time we replace
both wing drains. The year before that we serviced the gasolator. That
one is pretty easy. McFarlan had the o ring kit for the fuel selector.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI