skywagon8a
MEMBER
SE Mass MA6
I agree Gordon, but when you have an A&P license and you have to place your name and number in a log book you have to be able to back up doing such.The jury struts only stabilize the lift struts. They aren't really directly subject to flight loads. So in my opinion that AN3 bolt is simply the smallest readily available "bolt", and its stress capability really isn't important. It would be interesting to compute for comparison the edge pullout strength of the thin jury strut material. I'd be surprised if it's even close the bolt strength. But I've been wrong before - - -
IF an A&P gets in the habit of making minor substitutions such as this, what else does he do without justification? What happens when Mr. FAA happens to notice the substitution while he is wondering about the airport and decides to look into who did it? What if that Mr.FAA is an a$$ h--- (There are some you know) and decides to put you, the A&P on his s--- list? You are using your A&P license to earn a living. Do you really need this hassle just because you used an AN-3C bolt on a jury strut in plain sight?
In this example it would be relatively easy to set up a test rig to find out which would fail first, the jury strut, the attachment to the lift strut or the AN-3C.
I can tell you from personal experience how much pleasure is derived when one of these above mentioned Mr.FAA types is put in his place. In the end Mr.FAA will come to you asking for your assistance, never harassing you again.