The International Cessna 170 Association

Poncho73 wrote:On an older post, George Horn lists some recommended mods. One was to add an aft fuselage inspection hole for the aft rudder cable area. Has anyone done this that can post a picture? I was looking at my airplane and I couldn’t establish a good spot.
Thanks

Poncho,
Are you looking to add an inspection plate in front of or behind the station 206 bulkhead? Here are two links to pictures of plates behind this bulkhead. Approval is another story.
Rectangle on left side
Round hole on the right side
In addition to the two rectangular inspection plates on the top sides of the tailcone, later models of the 180/185 have panels on the bottom in front of and behind the station 209 bulkhead.

Fair enough Bill, I know on my model (53) I can work through the cable cut-outs to remove the fairleads, move them aft, disassemble and clean, then reverse the process.
Speaking of later models saw this today in CYCW Very Nice visitor.
There’s a fair amount of stiffeners in this area, probably for a good reason.

n2582d wrote:

Poncho73 wrote:On an older post, George Horn lists some recommended mods. One was to add an aft fuselage inspection hole for the aft rudder cable area. Has anyone done this that can post a picture? I was looking at my airplane and I couldn’t establish a good spot.
Thanks

Poncho,
Are you looking to add an inspection plate in front of or behind the station 206 bulkhead? Here are two links to pictures of plates behind this bulkhead. Approval is another story.
Rectangle on left side
Round hole on the right side
In addition to the two rectangular inspection plates on the top sides of the tailcone, later models of the 180/185 have panels on the bottom in front of and behind the station 209 bulkhead.

Screen Shot 2021-01-21 at 11.35.53 AM.png

Screen Shot 2021-01-21 at 11.34.46 AM.png

Behind 206 as in the link. Thanks that is what I was looking for

If I added an inspection panel in either of the aft bulkhead areas, it would definitely be in the side of the fuselage and would never be in the bottom. The bottom of the fuselage is the highest stressed area back there and with as narrow as the aft fuselage is, it would be very difficult to fabricate a curved inspection panel that would adequately carry the stresses. An inspection panel on the side would be much more acceptable, stress-wise.

In the past, I also had the steering cables and pulleys serviced by removing Horizontal and vertical stabilizers. As an FYI, former 170 member David Laseter’s ‘55 170B N4387B airplane has rectangular inspection panel installed for servicing steer for cables. I asked him about it and he said he bought the plane that way.

I wonder how long it has had this inspection panel and if any issues have arisen?

May not be relevant, but on my '56 172 TD in 2001 we discovered a small crack in both sides of the doubler panels that were added during the Bolen conversion. We drilled out all of the rivets, removed the bolts and my IA had them welded by a professional in Grand Prairie, TX. He suggested replacing the rivets with bolts. (I know the proven theory that a bolt isn't as good as a rivet, but that is what Henry wanted to do) This meant either removing the horizontal and/or verticle to gain access to the area. His solution was to cut an inspection panel on the bottom of the tailcone and he made the plate from the piece we cut out. Its approximate 6-8 inches long. Every few yrs, probably should be annually, I remove the inspection plate and ck to see if there are any of bolts with loose nuts. None have ever been found and thus far no issues with stresses in that area.

170C wrote:...., I remove the inspection plate and ck to see if there are any of bolts with loose nuts.....

I think I’ve seen a loose nut in your airplane’s cockpit every once in a while, Frank!

They reside there on a regular basis George

cfzxo wrote:I wonder how long it has had this inspection panel and if any issues have arisen?

The plane is still flying according to FAA.gov aircraft N number lookup on web. I see it’s owned by LLC in Sheridan, Arkansas. Write owner if interested in details on the access panel.

Resurrecting an older post in hopes that someone has successfully added an inspection hole in the tailcone.

Just finished up a 7 month annual (first annual for me) on N4477B which included new rudder and tailwheel cables. A couple of flights later, during a preflight, I notice that I missed one of the pulley brackets with one of the rudder cables. I need to be able to reach in and remove the pulley bolt/pulley and slide the cable up inside the bracket. Really really really not wanting to disassemble the whole tail again.

An access hole here would allow proper inspection/maintenance in the future as well.