The International Cessna 170 Association

I think you're right, you can see the primer under the clip. That looks nasty. It should clean up ok but look close for cracks and deep pits.

When you go back together with the gear, you could fab a brake like clip with a detent that would catch in the hole or better yet, that is a perfect setup for a tie-wrap and do away with the clip altogether. Then it can be changed every annual and the hole can be inspected for cracks and corrosion.

McFarlane sells a flexible brake line fairing that bonds to the aft edge of the landing gear leg that cradles the brake line and cleans-up the look of the leg. But if that is used, you are back in the situation where corrosion could hide under the fairing.


A hint for posting pictures, after you "Choose" your file and hit "Add the file", a box will open under your post that allows a description to be added to the picture and then you can put the picture anywhere in the post by putting the cursor where you want the picture to be then hit "Place inline". The picture will appear with the description under it.

Control Columns removed...

Would you mind measuring the length of the exposed control wheel shaft?

Shall I exaggerate like every other man...??? Sorry. I couldn’t resist...

I have 16 1/2” of exposed shaft....total length 18” 3/4” OD

Control wheel paint removed....getting ready for paint. So nice work on the kitchen counter, wife is away

Your pictures are interesting but it appears you are not down to bare aluminum like mine were when I stripped them. It appears the original covering is still on there. Not saying you can't paint them as they are though. Bill K

Agree, they look OK from a distance. The pics were taken after cleaning, and never dull and scotch brite application. There is some chrome plating in areas but up close they are very spotty. They need redoing to look original.

Thanks for the measurements.

Just don’t heat up the spray paint cans in the oven or your kitchen will look like a Mythbusters show.

No it wasn’t me that did it, my brother in law did. He just barely got it cleaned up before the wife got home.

3958v wrote:Your pictures are interesting but it appears you are not down to bare aluminum like mine were when I stripped them. It appears the original covering is still on there. Not saying you can't paint them as they are though. Bill K

Sorry I missed that. All the original covering is on the control wheels and in good shape. I assume it can be painted?

Also my airplane has 2650 TT and never a trainer..might explain the condition. George or Bruce might have more insight on this. I assume the covering can be redone as original...it was painted before.

Seek out a local powder coating shop and put together a box of parts you're thinking about painting.
You wont be disappointed.

I am not sure if painting the original coating is a good idea or not. I powder coated mine and was very happy with the results. If you go that route you will need to get the original covering off. That was not overly dificult on mine. If you do powder coat them it is apparently a good idea to put them thru the heat cycle a few times as they tend to produce a gas which makes small bubbles in the finish product. According to the man who did mine the solution to that is to heat and cool the yokes a few times before you powder coat them. I found it very satisfying to have nice yokes and restore rods. Bill K

Question....if that is the original coating, and the original coating was painted from the factory why would a repaint over the original cover be a concern. Just trying to figure out what to do going forward....

The original control wheel coating from the factory was some kind of plastic that was not painted. It is very tough but will eventually wear off in spots but seldom fails. I see no reason why the original plastic coating can't be painted as long as the surface is prepped properly. You should see normal wear spots in the paint after that as they are used. Were you thinking of duplicating the original off-pink color for the paint?

Before the control wheels can be powder coated, if that is what you decide to do, the original coating must be completely removed. It is not a fun job.

As Frank states, it is a good idea to run them thru the powder coat bake cycle a few times before actually coating them to let them gas-off, as any entrained contaminants will cause holidays/imperfections in the finished surface.

I had a set of late model C-185 control wheels powder coated that had corrosion pitting over a good bit of the surface. We smoothed out the pit sharp edges and used hammer-finish powder coat media and they came out great. The hammer finish hid 99-44/100ths of the pits.