Elevator torque tubes

Buck · Post by **Buck** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:30 pm

Our 170A has been in a field for years and has corroded elevator torque tubes. Has anyone experianced this and how did you deal with it?

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Mon May 17, 2004 7:13 pm

Well, since nobody else has replied....

I had to strip/clean mine to verify / repair a small crack my
IA had found. I masked off the skin surfaces, used stripper
and then bead-blasted the tube outdoors with a bucket / siphon
bead blaster, had the crack weld-repaired, then re-primed
& top-coated.

Are your torque tubes beyond repair? Are they rusted
along their entire length?

If so, sounds like you get to find serviceable replacement
elevators or drill yours apart and attempt to repair them....
(I'm guessing the detail replacement parts are not available?).

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Mon May 17, 2004 8:28 pm

I have this problem with mine right now, but yours sounds like it may be more serious (?). Mine was just some surface rust. We stripped it, cleaned it up, and epoxy primed it. If yours needs replacing, check the usual Cessna parts sources. If they are cost prohibitive, then I'd check the salvage yards.

Tom Downey · Post by **Tom Downey** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:07 am

And if that don't work, send what you have to me. I can repair as required to be like new.

Indopilot · Post by **Indopilot** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:47 am

I found that the tubes and tube to rib adaptors on our 56 171 to be corroded and cracked both. I was able to buy a new tube and adaptors through the normal parts houses. I then had to disassemble and rebuild. Was in the middle of an airframe overhaul so that was already scheduled.
If the part by the belcrank is bad, what is inside and harder to see is probably worse. That is an extruded tube I believe so I didn't want to take a chance on hidden intergranular corrosion like I found in our wing spars, and replaced the pitted side.
Being the cautious chicken I am, I would do a lot of checking before welding that part. Brian

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Tue May 18, 2004 5:41 pm

Tom Downey wrote:And if that don't work, send what you have to me. I can repair as required to be like new.

What do you do to repair this, Tom? Rebuild the eleevator with new (fabricated?) tork tubes? I can see how a crack could just be welded up,but what can be done about the corrosion? I don't think those tork tubes are very thick-walled.

Eric