The International Cessna 170 Association

rnealon1 wrote:

gahorn wrote:Here’s another solution some find useful:

43BC2BEB-D5EA-49AA-BB49-FEE5B9B70C7A.jpeg

Hi George,

This photo is interesting because the catch fitting on the door is exactly like the one on my aircraft door (and apparently not the original fitting?), but the bracket in the photo looks shortened from the original.

I purchased a "new" bracket from Preferred Airparts, but to match the other side I need to add the male fitting on the tip of the bracket. It sounds like this may be a hardware store part?

Thanks,

Bob

Here’s a source: https://www.amazon.com/Alise-CA250-4P-C ... 05&sr=8-24

The “male” portion is cut from it’s base, then a “slot” cut into it with a hacksaw (or reverse the order) and drill a hole thru it and “pin” it with a roll-pin onto the underwing bracket.

I just installed door stewards and they're a great addition....not inexpensive, but not terrible either

Here’s a link to a source for the “cabinet” style latches:

https://www.amazon.com/Alise-CA250-4P-C ... WYYDK5EY9W

I ordered a set of these although I got the smaller size, which were still a little bigger than the ones installed on my door. I am using my limited tools to fashion the tip to be installed on the replacement bracket I bought. Still a little reluctant to make a modification to this bracket as it is not easy to find one.

Thanks,

Bob

Many yrs ago I purchased a set of these called Sky Catch (I think that was the name). They work reasonably well. Much better than the original Cessna ones. However, even thought there is a way to adjust the tension, it will only hold so much. With our planes sitting tail down, gravity works against most any system. The best one ,IMHO, is the Door Stewards. I plan to replace my Sky Catch units with them soon.

DaveF wrote:Here's what happens to the fuel tank when the door stop screws are too long. I found this when I pulled the tanks for reseal.
Edit: Or someone ran a tap up through the nut plates.

Thanks for the heads up on this issue. Aircraft in Annual now and discovered this exact situation while replacing the door stop bracket. At least it was caught before the holes were all the way through.

Thanks,

Bob

I just purchased a set of Door Stewards and plan to install them in the next week or so. I haven't decided for sure whether to remove the under wing fitting or not (I have Sky Catch units now). Chances are I will remove them, but leave the catch on the door as to remove it would involve filling screw holes and painting. From reading other posts I have to wonder if the screws will be too long if put back into their nutplates without the fitting taking up some space. Sure don't want to pierce the fuel tanks.

Frank,
I believe your plane, (s/n 28988), should have capped nutplates according to SNL 10-24-57. I wrote about that here. But I would certainly use the depth gauge of a digital caliper - or mark off a toothpick - to check the depth of the nutplate hole and then use a screw at least 1/16" shorter than what you measure.

Thanks Gary.

Below is what was found after removing the left tank to access the nutplates. A broken off tap was still there preventing the fourth bracket screw from being installed. The dings in the tank were caused by the tap rather than the screws. Fortunately the tank was not punctured, and the tank strap was discovered to be loose so it is good we looked in there.

Thank you again for the heads up!

Bob

That’s pretty clear evidence! The damage to your fuel tank looks just like what I found on one of mine.

Yes it is almost identical!