When I took my plane to the painters (day before Thanksgiving) the
trim was working fine. When I picked my plane up from the painters
on Monday, the trim wasn't working. It felt stuck: the control
handle bounced back when I tried to move it into position to (e.g.)
trim nose down, instead of its normal movement.
I took it back to him today. He said that when they'd put the
control surfaces back on, he found the cable was stiff (rusty?) so
they lubed it and then it worked, but after they finished the
painting it rained for several days and (since I couldn't some get it
in the rain), they put the plane outside the hangar (the next
customer's plane had to go into the hangar for stripping). They
figured it had rusted up again and was binding.
So in front of me, the painter & his AI sprayed some lubricant on the
tail end of the wire, where it comes out of its sheathing, took off
the covering of the trim control handle at the other end, so the
handle mechanism was exposed, then kept trying to force it to work.
Long story short, they broke the trim wire right up near where it
attaches to the trim control handle. (I'd guess it broke from metal
fatigue of him repeatedly trying to force it loose using the control
handle.)
So of course they're saying, "The wire was old and rusty and you're
better off replacing it with a new one." Well, now I don't have any
choice but to do so! I ordered the wire itself from Skyport; it is
not expensive, but the labor looks to be. The painter's AI said only
"less than one day" to install it, and that "if it's less than 3
hours, [he] wouldn't believe it." The young mechanic who usually
helps me at my home field isn't available (away for the holidays),
and I haven't yet been able to reach the AI who usually does my
annual so I don't know if he's in town. IF I'm stuck with the
painter's AI doing this
(a) how long should the labor take, and
(b) is there anywhere in our online resources that shows
how? I've looked in the Service Manual and can't find anything.
(Hartmut: is there anything on this in your photo collection?)
Linda
N3437H (Sky Sprite)
L.A.
