The International Cessna 170 Association

I have a 1949 170A & I was thinking about changing the hardware that attaches the tailwheel spring to the fuselage, numbers 100-105 in figure 22 on page 38 of the parts manual. The bolt and nut (#100 & 105) are readily available. The retainer, #103 was available on ebay. The bushing, #102 is available from several sources for around $200. The only source that I was able to find for washer, #104 and the pads, #101 is a website called ASAP Semiconductor. I put in RFQ's for the bushing, pads and washer with them. They offered the bushing for $899, the pads (Cessna part number 0442119-1, which they have listed as a washer & haven't confirmed that it's a rubber washer) for $72.20, minimum order 4, and the washer (Cessna part number 0442128) for $72.20, minimum order 5. I saw in another thread that the washer is a standard AN970-5 washer with the center hole diameter of 13/32. My questions are: are people using alternative hardware?, and if so, what are the using?; and are there other sources of the hardware available?

Try calling Air Repair (http://airrepairinc.com/phone/index.html). It appears they have most, if not all the hardware for tail springs...