PA30 aux bladder gasket stacking question

[Andrew Borden]

I'm replacing an old porous aux bladder in a 1964 Twin Comanche PA-30.

The replacement bladder from Floats and Cells came with two cork gaskets and the company says they give you the gaskets that "touch the fuel cell". It seems to me that perhaps only one cork gasket is needed and I have a pile of gaskets from Webco.



Starting from the bottom up, the original bladder installation on the plane had:
1.) lower (inside) aluminum bolt plate inside the cell
2.) upper (outside) aluminum bolt plate outside the cell
3.) cork gasket
4.) fuel sender plate
5.) foam rubber gasket
6.) cover plate
Note: no gaskets, only the two halves of the aluminum bolt plate, actually "touch" the bladder in the current old bladder installation.

What Figure 904 "Fuel Cell Installation (Auxiliary/Outboard) on page 2J5 in the Piper Service manual shows:

1.) the aluminum bolt plates that sandwich the bladder aren't really discussed in the manual - should they sandwich the bladder directly or should there be some gasket
sandwiched between the bolt plates?
2.) cork gasket
3.) fuel sender plate
4.) gasket for sender unit plate
5.) gasket for cover plate
6.) cover plate

the manual shows two gaskets, items 4 and 5, stacked -- that doesn't seem right

I've attached 3 photos showing the original gaskets and how they were stacked.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions as to the proper stacking sequence of gaskets to install the new bladder properly.

Warm regards,


Andrew

[N3322G]

Andrew,

Check out diagram 39 in Section VI of the Parts Catalog on this website in the tech tab on the home page - this link should get you there.
http://www.comancheflyer.com/NS/manuals ... atalog.pdf

then the next page has the descriptions - the nice part about viewing online is you can make it bigger to see the numbers better.

Hope this helps.

[George Kretschmann]

I used 1 cork gasket between the fuel cell and the plate, I did not use the metal ring that came off the old fuel cell that looked like a different setup all together. I just installed FFC bladders just like yours in my 1963 PA-30 this weekend. thanks g

[Andrew Borden]

Thanks guys! I got the aux in and started on the main bladder. On the aux, the copper fuel line fitting with the mesh screen was really stuck to the old bladder nipple, but I was able to undo the clamps under the wing just inboard of the aux bladder nipple and remove the line from the nipple with the old bladder out of the plane.

On the main bladder, the copper line and screen from the bladder nipple is continuous all the way through the fuselage and under the floor with no connections before the line makes a 90 degree turn aft. I've been coaxing the old bladder off the fitting and it's moving, but I have some more pulling/coaxing to do before I get the old bladder off.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with the fittings being really seized in the bladder nipples? Also, when putting the new main bladder in, is it going to be as tricky to get the bladder nipple on the essentially fixed fuel line/screen fitting?

Thanks,

Andrew

[George Kretschmann]

When I replaced my 2 left bladders the aux was no problem and the main copper pipe and screen came right out of the main bladder with no problem. Putting the fuel lines back in the bladders were easy also with no problems. I was surprised to see how much trash was in both bladders.

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

Andrew,
Just cut off the old nipple, and then split it to remove. Much easier and you won't have to re solder the basket on the pipe when you pull it off!
-Zach