Shoulder Harness Install

[fowlerflaps]

I recently had two Kosola inertial reel shoulder harness's installed and was quoted 10 hrs of work per seat. Does this seem right? Has anyone on here had this modification?

[N3322G]

I have the harnesses - have to look up the hours - will be back to you later today - pls verify that your Twin is a30 - looks like it from the photo

[fowlerflaps]

Yes it is a PA-30C. I look forward to your times. I have the kosola inertial reels for the front seats. thanks.

chad

[N3322G]

Chad,

The shop charged 14 hours and that included the upholstery shop remove and re-install of the headliner - however, the interior was already out so the time to remove the interior and window sills and re-install it was NOT included - having watched this process - 6 more hours doesn't seem unreasonable to me IMHO - assuming you don't want interior damage.

This also didn't include the paint touch up for the rivets in the top of the fuselage.

I'm quite happy with the harnesses - we did end up using a different belt provider than Kosola originally suggested because the belts would not retract correctly - might want to check this before install - perhaps we just got a bad set. What we have now is excellent without being excessive tension on the shoulder part. Kosola stood behind their work 100%.

BTW, if you were looking at new side windows, it would be a good time to install them as they will be easily accessible - because the sills are already out. In my Twin's case, the sills did not survive this process well - but I knew that going in. 40 year old plastic needs to be replaced anyway - just haven't gotten around to it.

Hope this helps.

[fowlerflaps]

Pat,

Thanks for the info, makes me feel a bit better about the 10hr per side install. They actually did a great job with preserving my headliner. I have a nice soft leather headliner that was installed about 10 years ago. The risk of destroying the headliner was a big concern of mine when considering whether to put the harnesses in or not. In the end the safety argument won and I sprang for em. That and seeing the aftermath of what would have just been a simple incident turn into an accident as a result of running a plane off a runway with no shoulder harness. lets just say her plane looks better than she does....

[N3322G]

Glad to help.

Put ours in for the same reason.

[Chris Kuyoth]

Chad,

10 per side seems about right. I helped my IA install the Kosola inertial real system in both front seats in my 260. It took us about 8-9 hours total. If we had to do it again, we could probably cut that down to 6-7. Keep in mind, that is for two people - 16-18 man hours. Granted, as a helper, I certainly did not contribute a full 8-9 hours of "billable labor".

That 8-9 hours did not include any fussing with the headliner as I already had it completely removed in preparation for new including new insulation. Between R&R on the plastic window trim, pulling down the headliner, reinstalling the headliner and touching up paint on the exposed rivets, I could see another 3-4 man hours. In addition, without the headliner competely removed, it probably slowed your installation. I also had no side windows at the time which helped.

If your headliner was left intact and you are happy with the appearance, I would not worry too much about an extra hour or two for the install. It sounds like they took their time to avoid screwing up the headliner.

Having installed both the Lenny Spall system in a previous 180 and the Kosola system in my current 260, you made a good choice going with Kosola.

Chris

[fowlerflaps]

THanks for the response Chris. It makes me feel a bit better. I guess lots of manufacturers will quote less install times to get their product sold. Just grumpy about all the MX $$$$ spent this last two months. Which is really my own doing; well at least 95% of it was with mods and such.

Chad

[N3322G]

Chad,

Ditto - I'm always grumpier when the dollars are moving faster than the airplane.

I'm signing up for the airbags -whenever they get here ordering them today with 10% deposit - too many friends have done a great job of handling an emergency and then get whacked in the head by the light posts in the panel. As a person with short legs and so sitting very close to the panel, husband is all for spending more money and getting the AmSafe airbag belts. He told me he prefers my face the way it is - nice ... I noticed though he had his glasses off, so the wrinkles were dramatically reduced at the time. LOL

[DAVEG24]