Aussie Horn Installation

[MV Case Jr]

FWIW , I elected to take the easy route after reading the installation instructions and looking at the list of special tools and sealants , etc. I purchased a horn from Johnston and had it drop shipped to Clifton Aero . After seeing their work and listening to their description of the procedure at the Fredericksburg Seminar to install the horn on the torque tube , as an A&P , I figured discretion was the better part of Valor . I own a '61 PA24-250 and am retired so I only planed on doing this AD once . The learning curve seemed too steep to climb for a one time operation . It took my son and I about 2 hrs. to take the tail apart and remove the torque tube . I had a wooden box made ( with LOTS of padding ) and shipped it to Clifton . I had it back 2 wks. later . It would have been quicker but one of their guys that does the actual installation got sick . I don't have any pictures , but it looked beautiful ! Better than factory ! It came with ALL the paperwork , including a copy of the letter to the FAA requesting approval to use the AMOC . My cost was just over $800 , including shipping from Clifton and $855 from Johnston . I'll cover the installation later .

T-6 Driver

[N3322G]

Glad to hear this worked for you.

[MULEFLY]

Clifton is good... for those considering it, Heritage Aero in RFD has now done more than 2 dozen of these... so there is no learning curve there either. I think in most instances that they are flipping them in a couple of days. As described above probably 1 day for just the assembly.

All the best!
Jim

[Jim Ivey]

If you are in the Southwest, AV8Rc Aircraft Service LLC in El Paso, TX does them and has the tooling, precision measuring instruments, sealants, heat oven and experience to do more, in complete accordance with the Austrailian STC instructions. This company is owned by a 30-year+ experienced IA, machinist, and DME Randall Charles. (915) 433-4293

[MV Case Jr]

Aussie Horn Installation Part 2

Sorry it took so long to get back to my story , FWIW here it is . In order to comply with this AD you MUST use all new hardware . See Assembly Instructions Step 14 for the horn & torque tube bolts and Instructions for Continuing Airworthiness Service Manual Supplement( FAA STC ) Step 58 and59 for the Stabilator Halve bolts . You have two choices for the Stab. bolts , one is Cadmium plated and the other is Stainless Steel . The Cad. plated bolts will require a repetitive
500 hr. inspection while the Stainless bolts do not . I chose to go with the Stainless bolts and found them hard to find and very expensive ( $70.00 each ) . They are "close tolerance" bolts , but I thought $280.00 for 4 bolts was a bit much so I cranked up the old computer and found a better deal . A company called Genuine Aircraft Hardware had AN 174C32A bolts for $25.60 each so I got all four of them for $102.42 . The rest of the hardware is standard AN stuff .

As my Horn and Torque Tube arrived fully assembled the re-installation went quickly . Be sure to read the "Note" in Step 56 of the Instructions for Continuing Airworthiness Manual Supplement . It tells the kind and number of washers to use on which bolt . Remember , for the AMOC to be valid you MUST follow all instructions to the letter . The torque on the nuts is only 30 to 40 inch/pounds plus the drag of the NEW nylon lock nut .

When everything is hooked back up you MUST rebalance the stabilator . I had cleaned and lubed the old bearings the last time I did the previous AD , but the new bearings required a fair amount of weight to be added to the balance arm . The test flight went well . It might be my imagination , but the pitch movement of the yoke seemed to be just a bit smoother with the new bearings . Good luck with your airplane !

T-6 Driver