Mandatory wing strut fork hardware Service Bulletin - SB1172

[Semper Fi]

Well thanks Glen.. thats what I was looking for. The plane is parked and going to get a thorough annual done on it. The gear and the struts will come off before it goes flying again.. Im not happy with the fact that I flew it not knowing that it may not have the correct hardware on it now. But Im safe and able to fix it.. so Im happy aboutthat. Thank you for that insightful post.

[walt.buskey]

When I replaced my struts with sealed ones, I'm pretty sure l read somewhere that normal AN bolts, being just a tad longer, caused some issues with contacting landing gear on hard landings. I think that was when I was reading up on the "special" Piper bolts and the SB, etc. Anyone else see that? (And yes, I did get & use the special, rather expensive bolts.) Walt

[andya]

I seem to remember a similar story/reason but cannot find it in my stash of documents

[walt.buskey]

Found it. In the original SB1172, 7/3/2006, on page two:

DSC05615.jpg

[Steve Pierce]

This SB was a result of Piper selling NAS bolts to replace the original Piper part number. On certain airplanes, especially Super Cubs with extended gear the longer NAS bolts could hit the upper gear tube on a hard landing and cause damage to the gear. The suggestion was to turn the bolts over which was bad cause you had to remover the gear to get the strut bolts out. Not fun when you are picking a wreck up in the middle of a field somewhere. The better solution was install the Piper part number available from Univair. Don't remember them costing $50 though and I order them quite often.

[Semper Fi]

That's what I thought.. says a gear issue.. but if the bolt is banging on the gear than it could be damageing the strut.. I can't identify whay type of bolts I have on my struts without taking them out.. they look the right size but not sure if they are threaded longer than they are supposed to be.. that's what I don't like. Also going to replace the upper strut bolts, can you tell me which one of the drawings cd I need to order to show the part numbers for a PA-16?

[wyandot jim]

I would check to see if you can get a Parts Manual (Univair) for the Clipper. Much easier to use. I have both the CD and the Parts Manual for the Pacer. We have Parts Manuals for all our planes. They are worth the price

[Semper Fi]

Thanks Jim

[Gilbert Pierce]

Unfortunately the Clipper parts manual has no pictures.

[Glen Geller]

That's what I thought.. says a gear issue.. but if the bolt is banging on the gear than it could be damageing the strut.. I can't identify whay type of bolts I have on my struts without taking them out.. they look the right size but not sure if they are threaded longer than they are supposed to be.. that's what I don't like. Also going to replace the upper strut bolts, can you tell me which one of the drawings cd I need to order to show the part numbers for a PA-16?

I seem to recall the heads are marked differently on the AN bolts vs the Special Bolts.
A look at the hardware on the Univair or AC Spruce catalogs might she'd some light on this.
Somebody here might be able to post a pic of a known "correct" bolt, showing the marking, for comparison.
And of course the short castellated nuts are easy to identify vs conventional castellated nuts.

GG