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It Isn't Hard to Assemble a Super Cub Or Is It?

This discussion made me think of our favorite negligent mechanic around here. I recently heard that after his ticket was revoked he started signing the name and number of a mechanic that had died some years earlier.

A quick search shows that he is still alive. Not wrenching anymore, fortunately. Not in prison, either.
 
I guess we all have stories just good that most are honest hard working guys. Many years ago had a IA replace my vented Piper gas caps with unvented. My wife and I headed across the water,14 miles, in Alaska when almost across I started losing power. Went I landed I found the gas cap was sucked down below the tank cover. This type of experience,I hope, has made me more attentive when I work on planes and a bit of a pain because I ask or research if I'm not sure of a job.
 
Steve, as an aircraft owner for 59 years, my post couldn't possibly be casting a broad sword; I've found as many good as bad to my standards. The good were those who also took surprises out of annuals, noting conditions requiring attention in future annuals. Spotty performance, AMEs coming and going, was a principal reason I went experimental and haven't regretted it. That, and AMEs I admire, the unlicensed wizards, the surpassing generosity of members here, provide a perfect amalgam for responsible flying if I do my part. A responsibility of friendship and to our fraternity is to speak harsh truths when needed, as you do.
 
Situations like this SHOULD be self correcting. Just stop using the incompetent mechanic. When he has no more aircraft to work on, he'll be forced to move on to other jobs (that, hopefully, don't risk life and limb).

All major jobs, like recover/rebuilds will have to have the bugs worked out. No mechanic worth his salt will claim to do any type of major job 100% bug free. The trick is to catch those issues BEFORE the customer picks up the airplane. You have another qualified individual (or two) look over the aircraft before you sign it off. I tell people that I would rather be embarrassed than be responsible for hurting some one or bending an airplane. And each owner needs to understand that there are a few items that just need to be checked operationally before you can say that they are done and done correctly. Think about doing your power check before each flight. I can't even 100% guarantee a radio install is good to go until the pilots flies the aircraft and does a com check with a distant station. THEN I consider that job done.

That being said, the pics that Mr Pierce posted, show issues that I would NEVER consider 'bugs'. Incorrect parts installed. Parts assembled incorrectly. Or in the case of the rear liner tube, incorrect parts installed incorrectly. Look at this at two different levels.

First, the assembly procedures. The guy/guys putting the aircraft together simply put the wrong parts on or put the right parts on in the wrong manner. There may be some wiggle room here, for some items. If you've never assembled a Cub, you'll never have all the answers. But it's obvious from these pics that they never looked at the books. The parts manual gives specific numbers and descriptions of the individual parts and even gives you ideas about assembly. The old military assembly manual shows individual systems as the are installed on the aircraft. Manuals come with items installed under STC's. Then there is the internet and the telephone. Want to know that last obscure detail? Google search it. Pick up your phone and call your buddy or call the IA. Remember that the wiggle room I'm talking about here, is the details. I.e. which way a bolt is installed or the order of assembly. Anything above that level should be 'in the book'.

The second level here, I believe is much more serious; the sign off. A&P's and IA's have the ability to sign off 'other peoples' work. But it comes with the responsibility of making sure the work was done correctly. This means that the aircraft is safe to fly when the paperwork is signed off. Some of these sign offs are easier than others. If you ask me to sign off an intercom install, I can simply inspect the wires for correct type/size, proper terminations, correct breaker size, and proper routing. Are the jacks installed with isolation washers? Look under the instrument panel to make sure the intercom box is installed with the correct hardware and does not interfere with the flight controls. All these items can be visually inspected with minimal effort. Now imagine that you are going to sign off a recover or rebuild project. You will still need to insure correct parts and assembly but you will need to do this in each local area BEFORE it's covered up by skin/fabric or other assemblies. Things like wrong hardware or misrouted cables are completely obvious when it's a skeleton of the fuselage or wing. Throw the fabric on and now you're going to have trouble seeing these items let alone fixing them.

So, yes the guys building this Cub screwed up. Big time. My guess is that they had no reference materials or did not use them. I doubt they even went and looked at other Cubs. But go one level up and the IA screwed up worse. He is supposed to be the inspecting authority for this job. Think quality control inspector. I don't know this IA so I don't know the reasons for this event. He could have trusted the guys doing the work or it could be lack of knowledge on his part. Either way, he didn't get the job done. If he had caught these problems, they could have been corrected with minimal effort and we wouldn't be discussing it here. Instead, this aircraft has been flying around.

We can all take action to prevent this from happening. Owners, choose your mechanics/shops carefully. Competency and knowledge is more important than cheap labor rates, so ask around. If you do the work, then DO THE WORK! That means do the procedures called out in the proper manuals. Don't try to hide improper parts or procedures from the A&P or IA. If you are an A&P or IA signing off work for another individual, then do YOUR job. Complex assemblies require complex inspections. Observe the work being done. Ask questions. Look over the parts used, both before and after assembly. Once you sign for work accomplished, it's yours. Legally it no longer matters if someone else physically did that work.

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In my most recent experience with home made exhaust and mechanics signing off the muffler ad for 10 years with no muffler, the faa didn’t seem to care at all.


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The fact that no one will give Steve the offender's contact just makes it worse. It is kind of like doctors sticking together while lawyers will fry their grandmother for a buck.

Maybe a professional standards group like airline pilots have. An offender is given a friendly chat to gain the facts and remedy the situation before involving the FAA or the company. Police your own to weed out the bad apples. There are a few in any profession.
 
This discussion made me think of our favorite negligent mechanic around here. I recently heard that after his ticket was revoked he started signing the name and number of a mechanic that had died some years earlier.

A quick search shows that he is still alive. Not wrenching anymore, fortunately. Not in prison, either.
He was one of them.
 
This is intriguing. I'm thinking especially about the stabilizer liner tube being anchored in the center. If it were an experimental, it would seem like a reasonable solution. Neither the tube or the stabilizers can go anywhere, unless a brace wire breaks. And if that happens there are bigger troubles.

I'm in no way saying this is ok on a certificated Cub, and the liner tube will eventually rust to the fuselage tube it's anchored to, but it's still an interesting approach.

Don't shoot!
 
If it were an experimental, it would seem like a reasonable solution.

Doesn't work. I had it with a frozen/corroded one. The aircraft trim range narrowed up a lot and towards the ends of it trimming became real hard trying to twist the link.

(maybe your post was more on principles rather then the trim specifics)
 
It worked, the stabs rotated on the liner tube instead of the liner tube rotating on the fuselage. No bolts between the rear liner tube and the stabs. Not correct but it worked. Liner tube was pretty rusty as well. The 3/16" bolt in the fin mounting the tail brace wires and the side to side slop between the front horizontal stabilizer attachments and the excessive slop in the jackscrew itself were other areas of concern.
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Considering how much the tail moves on a 180 hp Cub, I wouldn't even think about doing it that way.
 
Put a bow on a new can of LPS#2 when you give it back with a note on use to the owner also. That thing was DRY in every picture I saw!
 
Wow, this was supposed to be a certified Cub? Scary regardless of category. Sheesh
 
Not sure, but I think some Citabrias depend on the wires to hold the rear of the stabs together. Of course all Cubs need those bolts.

Our new J-3 came with one of the stab holes drilled out to match the holes in the wire fitting. Also, when removing the bird cage (!) they ground a hole in a major structural tube, then covered it over. And decided they did not like those diagonals that keep the butt rib from being pulled by the fabric, and anchored the butt rib to the next rib. Now both ribs wave at you on walk-around. That's ok, the price was right and we put a thousand hours on it after fixing a few things.

I was timid as a 21 year old pilot, and did not get into serious stuff like carburetors - in 1965 I found the carb screen bolt glued in! Nobody has touched my airplane since then except me.

Probably dodged a bullet today - was going to fly a Rotax Kitfox maybe 90 miles. Owner decided to truck it. Considering how expensive that gets, I wonder if he knows something I don't? Lucky day.
 
Looking at the last photo of the stab liner tube, I'm reminded of the many times, I've pulled apart a Cub tail and found multiple holes drilled for the stab to tube thru bolts. Or found the holes emlongated for misalignment. I suppose I'm extra fussy about this because banner planes' tails shake like heck at all times. One old timer told me about the time, the front liner tube broke and the stabilizer went 90" up against the tail wires. He said he made it about a mile up the beach before he landed, as that's as far as it would go. His solution was to install a solid bar instead of a tube. Not sure if that made it better or worse, or weaker. Darned hard to break a 1" diameter steel bar. In a southern NH shop they recently found a #10 screw instead of an AN3 bolt holding the elevator cable in a Champ. No cotter pin either. Gremlins get in there at night or what??? Any time we reassembled a plane. we did double checks, and then I sat down and drank a cup of coffee beside the airplane and thought about life for a while. Surprising what you remember.
 
Tony was right, this Super Cub is the gift that keeps on giving. Was going to replace the flap cable from the flap handle to the fitting wher it splits to go to each wing but discovered that the person that built this Cub swedged all the cables to the fitting at the split instead of bolting the two that go out to each wing. When I tried to remove the headliner I discovered that the vinyl glued to the metal headliner at the skylight/spar carry-thru has the fuselage fabric glued to it so no way to access the pulleys where the cables exit into the wings without destroying some fabric. I was getting frustrated and was ready to splice the cable to make the extra length so pulled out AC43.13. Low and behold there was my answer.
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I can legally splice the cable so I decided to install a turnbuckle because the likelyhood of me getting perfect length while swedging a cable inside the fuselage is pretty unlikely. Worked out great and got my zero flap and 52 degrees full deflection without any issue.
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Got the tail back on with new jackscrew and liner tubes. Updated the photo album with more surprices and the process as well. https://photos.app.goo.gl/j3dHb5AKjxHLHsYo7
 

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Impressed how highly experienced mechs readily look in "the book" rather than rely just on memory or "knowledge". Good job, Steve.
 
Impressed how highly experienced mechs readily look in "the book" rather than rely just on memory or "knowledge". Good job, Steve.

I'm lazy, I don't want to do more work than I have to but I have to do it right so someone doesn't start a thread like this about me.. ;)
 
Use heat shrink tube Cut off and save one end of cable. Use heat shrink a new cable to that, and gently pull that through... measure removed cable parts. Make new one to length but leave one end unswedged pull that back through. Then swedge that end. Perfect length cable with no need for access or removing pulleys That’s how you make new Cessna cables too


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Use heat shrink tube Cut off and save one end of cable. Use heat shrink a new cable to that, and gently pull that through... measure removed cable parts. Make new one to length but leave one end unswedged pull that back through. Then swedge that end. Perfect length cable with no need for access or removing pulleys That’s how you make new Cessna cables too


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Bill Tracy showed me that trick, they use it in the airlines a lot. Since I was dealing with three different cables and would be swedging cables in the wing while standing on the floats I thought this was way easier.
 
It's like a treasure hunt.
Too bad it isn't good treasure. Kyler noticed the fabric around the D window coming out. While removing the non-standard fairing I notice that they screwed the screws into the tubing. Then I notice the flex in the fabric under the fuel tank and realized the fabric is not rib stitched to any of the tank bay ribs.
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It seems like it would be a high wear area in the propwash without stiching

I’ve been helping a buddy stitch some recovered Super Cub wings that had been in the factory fabric from 1978, and they were stitched every 1.5” on the first few ribs from the fuselage. After that it was on 3” spacing.
 
Not really needed. Nothing is stitched under a atlee tank. But I still stitch if there is a rib there....


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Atlee tank stc calls for , I believe, silicone calling as adhesive to hold the fabric tight to the bottom of the tank. I'll check the stc instruction manual if anyone needs the info

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Atlee tank stc calls for , I believe, silicone calling as adhesive to hold the fabric tight to the bottom of the tank. I'll check the stc instruction manual if anyone needs the info

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and there are no ribs there for the fabric to drum on. Been a while since I covered wings with the Atlee tanks but I seem to remember the tank was at the bottom of the wing.

I got the phone numbers for the previous owner and the mechanic yesterday and left them both a couple of messages. The prevous owner called me back last night. He reminds me of Sargent Schultz on Hogan's Heros. Mechanic has yet to call me back.
 
and there are no ribs there for the fabric to drum on. Been a while since I covered wings with the Atlee tanks but I seem to remember the tank was at the bottom of the wing.

He reminds me of Sargent Schultz on Hogan's Heros.

If you have to negotiate with him, just promise him some strudel.

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