J160 hinge replacement

[ianboag]

I just had the (six) aileron hinges and (four) elevator hinges and elevator cable replaced by a LAME II think that's about the same as an L2). I'm curious to get some feedback on what would seem like a reasonable estimate for the number of hours that might be involved.

 

 

[ianboag]

OK - it was 40-odd hours for the hinges .... seemed a tad OTT. Perhaps I'm out of touch?

 

 

[biggles]

Drilling out old rivets , assuming holes in new hinges lined up with old ..... OK , but removing old hinge plates which would have been "flocked" ( glassed ) in place would have taken some time .Lining up and flocking new hinge plates in position , filling and sanding ,and more filling and sanding , until the rivet heads are undetectable , then painting to match all control surfaces with wings and horizontal stab. Depending on the finish you want I would not like to quote under 12 hours . Replacing elevator cable should be straightforward but then again things can go wrong. All up maybe up to 14 hours labour , parts extra . 40 hours does seem a tad high, but it does get back to the all up cost , he may work for peanuts !

 

Bob

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

How many hours before that job has to be done?

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I'm curious about why the old hinges needed replacing. My rudder hinges needed a squeeze down to tighten them and remove the play. I took off the rudder and put the hinge wire back in, then squeezed the hinge onto the wire with a double-leverage pair of pliers. Ditto for the rudder itself. No more play....

 

I don't know if there is an figure for the permissable hinge play, but I guess if it is noticeable then it is not nice.

 

Since this job, I've been more careful about keeping them lubricated. A teflon dry-lube spray like the new WD40 stuff might be the best to use, does anybody have a better suggestion?

 

 

[ianboag]

I'm curious about why the old hinges needed replacing. My rudder hinges needed a squeeze down to tighten them and remove the play. I took off the rudder and put the hinge wire back in, then squeezed the hinge onto the wire with a double-leverage pair of pliers. Ditto for the rudder itself. No more play....I don't know if there is an figure for the permissable hinge play, but I guess if it is noticeable then it is not nice.

Since this job, I've been more careful about keeping them lubricated. A teflon dry-lube spray like the new WD40 stuff might be the best to use, does anybody have a better suggestion?

The experts on the field (every field has them ....) frowned very strongly on doing this when I suggested it. Something to do with "just two points of contact" and "accelerated wear" etc.

 

I've had a chat with the LAME who did the job - basically he didn't know much about this sort of thing and used my job to learn ...... :-( I also found out that Jab offered him the old-style hinges with the caveat that "they will wear out". They would have used the existing holes and only lasted another 1000 hours or so. Measured in years that might be as long as I do. But I was not asked about it.

 

Doing business with friends is a bad idea.