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Service Bulletin 14-01-31

J

jpowell13

Well Known Member
I'm ordering stuff for my next condition inspection coming up in March and thinking about SB 14-01-31 (For 6's, 7's and 8's). I found no cracks in the horizontal stab front spar last year and doubt that I will find any this year, but I'm wondering about going ahead with the fix that Anti-splat sells. I've got several other little projects in mind while I have everything apart and don't want to get in too deep.

Is it better to leave a good spar alone for now, or, be preemptive? What are others doing?

John
 
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There's an old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Not sure that applies in this case.

YMMV.

I suspect that some aircraft will never develop cracks.

Only one person's opinion, and worth what you paid for it.;)
 
It depends

Did you build it?
Do you recall which way you oriented the -4 rivets that hold the heavy aluminum angles (HS-810 and HS 814) to the central spar web? If the Shop heads were on the forward (angle) side of the spar, you're in for a harder time I think. This is what I've been dealing with, and it means when drilling them out, you're going to have to get your 90 degree drill in the narrow leading edge portion of the HS. It's almost impossible to get the drill bit centered on the rivet and keep it there. Odds are you're going to bugger up the angles for sure and maybe even a spar web hole or two. Then you've got to replace buggered parts and the saga just continues.
If the shop head of these rivets are on the aft side of the spar, against the spar web itself, then access is much easier in the more spacious portion aft of the spar. You even have the option to drill out the -3 rivets holding the trailing edge together and you get nearly unrestricted access to the rivets in question if you can lift that skin.

Had I known any of this, I'd have left mine alone; it hasn't even been assembled or flown yet! I thought it was easier now in the shop than taking a flying and painted aircraft apart later.
 
HS SB

claycookiemonster said:
Did you build it?
Do you recall which way you oriented the -4 rivets that hold the heavy aluminum angles (HS-810 and HS 814) to the central spar web? If the Shop heads were on the forward (angle) side of the spar, you're in for a harder time I think. This is what I've been dealing with, and it means when drilling them out, you're going to have to get your 90 degree drill in the narrow leading edge portion of the HS. It's almost impossible to get the drill bit centered on the rivet and keep it there. Odds are you're going to bugger up the angles for sure and maybe even a spar web hole or two. Then you've got to replace buggered parts and the saga just continues.
If the shop head of these rivets are on the aft side of the spar, against the spar web itself, then access is much easier in the more spacious portion aft of the spar. You even have the option to drill out the -3 rivets holding the trailing edge together and you get nearly unrestricted access to the rivets in question if you can lift that skin.

Had I known any of this, I'd have left mine alone; it hasn't even been assembled or flown yet! I thought it was easier now in the shop than taking a flying and painted aircraft apart later.
Click to expand...

Clay is right on the money.
If it's flying, I would leave it alone and check at annual. Lots flying with no cracks.
If it's not assembled or painted, consider the job carefully.
I booggered up one hole exactly where Clay described. I had to disassemble to replace the spar and angles. Since I was that far apart already, I completely drilled it apart and replaced both spars, angles, ribs and doublers. Basically it's a new model HS and glad I did it but it burned 43 man/hours from my build.
 
Thanks Fellows

This is what makes dues to this website so worthwhile. I looked at photos I took during the last inspection, and the factory rivet heads are forward, but I think I'll leave well enough alone. John
 
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