172 door hinges: right way, wrong way, my way???

I was walking around the old girl yesterday and the doors were hanging open to make sure all the moisture from the leaks (stand-by
for post on cabin leaks)....so anyway, something made me grab the bottom of the door and check sop in the hinges. Maybe it was
because I am thinking of taking them off to replace the seals someday to slow down the wind blowing through.

Anyway, I pull up on the back of the door and the bottom 1/2 of the hinge pins falls down a 1/4". Hmmm.

The top hinge pins look stock, but the lowers look like a piece of coat hanger. Not even tractor pins like the rentals!

What do you use for pins material?

Mike Z

"Mike Z." wrote in message link.net...
I was walking around the old girl yesterday and the doors were hanging open to make sure all the moisture from the leaks (stand-by
for post on cabin leaks)....so anyway, something made me grab the bottom of the door and check sop in the hinges. Maybe it was
because I am thinking of taking them off to replace the seals someday to slow down the wind blowing through.

Anyway, I pull up on the back of the door and the bottom 1/2 of the hinge pins falls down a 1/4". Hmmm.

The top hinge pins look stock, but the lowers look like a piece of coat hanger. Not even tractor pins like the rentals!

What do you use for pins material?

Mike Z

We buy pins from Cessna. One of them is a stainless pin, the other is
brass and looks just like uncoated brazing rod. Real expensive brazing
rod, it is. The Cessna manual calls for "spin-bradding" of the pins to
keep them in the hinge, and I made a 1/4" rod with a taper on one end
and a small hemispherical depression in the same end, and spun it with
a die grinder. Hold the pin down in the hinge, and the high speed of
the rod against the other end of the pin will heat and upset it,
forming a head.
The stainless pin doesn't care for this treatment. The brass works
well.

Dan

I personally prefer cotanger material for the early 172 hinges.

Cut it about 1" longer than the hinge, bend the top ½" over at about a 10°
angle, insert it into the hinge, and then bend the bottom ½° at the same angle

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Wow!
You sure use that antenna material for a lot of things on an airplane.
What else does it do?

Jim Weir wrote:
I personally prefer cotanger material for the early 172 hinges.
Cut it about 1" longer than the hinge, bend the top *" over at about a 10°
angle, insert it into the hinge, and then bend the bottom *° at the same angle

Thanks!

Hopefully a little oil will keep the replacement lasting a little longer too.

Mike Z

"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
I personally prefer cotanger material for the early 172 hinges.

Cut it about 1" longer than the hinge, bend the top ½" over at about a 10°
angle, insert it into the hinge, and then bend the bottom ½° at the same angle

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com