I have a 1950 PA-20 that we have removed the fabric. Several ribs have corrosion, spars are good. I have an opportunity to by another project that has wings that is in better shape than mine. Are the ribs and leading edges interchangeable between a 1950 Pacer (PA-20) and a 1952 Tri-Pacer (PA-22).
PA-20 restoration, looking at wing options
- Thread starter XtremeDon
- Start date
Graham, Texas, United States
Yes, look in the parts manual and it gives the part number and serial number applicability as well as model years/serial numbers. Leading edges are usually dented up and I end up replacing them. The early airplanes were 3003 aluminum and very soft vs the later 2024-T3 which is harder and less prone to denting.
Thanks Steve for the response. If I was to buy these wings and they are in much better shape than the one's I currently own. Would the PA-22 wings just bolt onto the PA-20 fuselage? I had someone tell me that they won't. Everything I am reading is telling me that they will. I would just like to confirm with some of the experience in this forum before I make a trip to look at these wings. Thanks again in advance.
Graham, Texas, United States
The only difference in the 1950 Pacer and the 1952 Tri-Pacer would be if it was a very early Pacer without flaps.
Smokey
MEMBER
Fort Atkinson WI
Not knowing how much the spare wings are, have you considered replacing the truss ribs with stamped? I put univair stamped ribs on the 1,2,3,4 fuel tank positions and the one long outboard aileron. I used the parts from removed as well as spares I picked up along the way to fix 5,6,7,8,9 which are all the same. Univair makes the vertical extrusion, but I used sections of old rib to make the splices per service memo 10.
Smokey
MEMBER
Fort Atkinson WI
Last time I checked the DC ribs are not all approved for the PA20. Only a few are PMA,d. the Univair ribs can be installed in situ as a repair without disassembling the wing.
Can you say Field Approval! They are approved for the PA-22. I have a field approval to use them in my PA-16. As for installing without disassembling the wing, that could be an issue but if you have a number of ribs to replace, it might actually be easier to disassemble. That also gives you the chance to properly clean up and protect all the steel parts.
Smokey, where did you get the ICA reference?
Smokey
MEMBER
Fort Atkinson WI
Perfect, thank you
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Good info for your leading edge install and wing trammeling as well.
Smokey
MEMBER
Fort Atkinson WI
Good info here about ribs
Inspecting a Clipper where the trailing edge didn't look or feel quite right. Popped an inspection cover and low a behold look what I found.
Some pretty bad repairs that obviously didn't hold and weren't done per Piper Service Memo No. 10. Well I cut some fabric and as usual it was worse than it first appeared. I decided to cut it out and use one of my old ribs with a damaged front section to repair.
Cut the repair section out and spread the folded...
Some pretty bad repairs that obviously didn't hold and weren't done per Piper Service Memo No. 10. Well I cut some fabric and as usual it was worse than it first appeared. I decided to cut it out and use one of my old ribs with a damaged front section to repair.
Cut the repair section out and spread the folded...
