New Control Cables

[Wallace McDowall]

Hi, On VH-OYL's latest annual, she has been found to have a frayed cable. I thought if I am going to replace one, I may as well replace them all. Can anyone recommend a supplier of pre assembled control cables for a PA24-250 Serial number 24-3027.

Cheers

Wal McDowall

[JIMICS2452]

Try Webco.

[N3322G]

I used Mcfarlane for other cables on my Twin

[steen]

Wallace.
Your AI should be able to fabricate the cables from scratch using the old ones as patterns in 15 minutes per cable.
Steen

[Charles Schefer]

Personally I'd want the swedges put on with the proper equipment. Maybe some AI's have access to that equipment but I'd bet most don't. Cliff Wilewski gave a talk at an ICS convention years ago and it talked about things like brake lines being fabricated by shops. I recall part of the story being how a new brake line just separated where the fitting was fixed on the end of the line (not at Cliff's shop - he just dealt with the aftermath). Anyway I'm not saying the average AI can't do a great job. Just saying control cables are obviously quite critical.

Recently there as an AD affecting the control cables of a lot of Pipers. A Safety Inspector from the Washington FSDO that oversees my 135 operation co-wrote that AD. He told me that the AD came down to the way the Swedges were affixed to the cables in some Pipers. Comanches weren't affected.

Just my 2-cents.

- Charles

[Clarence Beintema]

Field fabricated cables and pressure hoses are seldom tested to their design proof ratings as they would be in certified shops.

Clarence

[Wallace McDowall]

Thanks everyone.

After contacting Webco and a few others, we decided that acquiring pre-fabricated cables was not possible as it is with Cessna 182's etc, so our LAME is sending the originals off to Brisbane to an aircraft control cable specialist who is making them from our samples and sending both sets back.

It was interesting looking at the old cable. There was not actually a wire sticking out or anything. There was just one wire which was slightly more shiny, and I was told had moved a bit. Apparently the cables had been over lubricated at some stage in their life. I think there is a bit of a campaign on over here with control cables which have not been logged as changed in the last 15 years. Difficult to argue with your LAME about whether or not it is a good idea when it is control cables! It will be interesting to see what they look like once they are out and we can see the whole cable.

Thanks again to everyone for your input.

Cheers

Wal