A biggie that not many have done, the lower gear fitting was a forging with open end grain that is subject to exfoliation corrosion. Really hard to see and if it hasn't been done on an older plane, it probably needs it.
Wayne
This is a biggie. The angles that tie these to the belly skins are almost always cracked on older airplanes too. Odds are good that a few rivet heads are sheared off between the angle and the out gear bracket at the very least. At some point Cessna upped a lot of the rivets around here from 5s to 6s, I assume because of all of this. I've also seen the rivets on the inboard bracket shear. This whole area takes a beating and needs a once over twice regularly.
The hockey stick angle on the tail is a hotspot for problems. This AD is actually a good one despite all of the internet bitching about it. In 1977 Cessna upped the rive size holding this to the tail skin to 5s where they are countersunk on the horizontal stab fairing. I think this is a good idea if you have a reason to be there. I've seen these sheared a lot too.
The gear alignment is most likely a mess. Every airplane that comes in to my shop for the first time I do an alignment on and they are always a mess.
The tailwheel steering is usually screwed up. The manuals are **** on how to set up a scott tailwheel, and for some reason most trike mechanics don't take the time to figure it out. They are no fun to fly with bad tailwheel steering. I'm a fan of the tailwheel lock too. Make sure the tailwheel head is epoxied to the spring too, if it isn't you'll probably be replacing the head because its cracked after a while.
The rudder rigging is usually screwed up. Make sure you are getting full, unrestricted travel per the book. Not sure why these are screwed up but they usually are. Set it up per the late model manual and you'll be fine.
The horizontal trim system is usually a mess. Check the roll pins at the wheel and replace them. They are usually a 5-800 hour item. The better fix is to update the wheel like the late models so the sprocket is riveted to the wheel and then you'll never have roll pin issues again. I pretty much always replace the KP6A bearings in the jackscrews, and about half of them get new male threads from Univair since they are 15 minutes from my shop. The threads are rarely damaged in my experience, but the area where the bearing rides is boogered up pretty regularly. Rig is per the manual and it works great. It is a 500 hr item to clean, inspect, and grease the jackscrews, follow that, it's worth it.
That early bird should have clevelands, but they are older than the hills. Give them a good once over. Sometimes they get swapped to mccauleys, which I don't have a problem with if they are 2 piece wheels, not a fan of the 3 piece but my dad flew on them forever without problems.
An old bird like that may have a ton of wear on the flap system. Look over the tracks closely. They are likely to have a wear spot at the flaps 20 position, maybe at others, but I see it at flaps 20 a lot because we use that for takeoff with lots of thrust every flight. Check where the tracks meet the rear spar, lots of cracks show up here. See a recent Juan Browne video with some pics of this on his buddy's 180. Check the pulleys for the flap system under the floor at station 65 (rear doorpost). They like to crack and leave you with a split flap condition.
Make sure the ailerons have 5 weights. Most of the rest of the 170Bs, 172s, 175s, 180s, 182s, all use the same aileron, but I'm pretty sure the 185 is the only one with 5 weights.
Check that the header tank has a fuel sump. That's an old AD that is a good one. There is an STC that is an AMOC for the AD that I like. If you want I can dig up the number.
I think there was an AD or a service letter on the control T having internal corrosion near the bottom, I'd look in to that. I don't recall the details, but it was a bad deal.
The engine mount on the early bird is pretty light. I'd consider swapping to a later float mount. I think its worth the weight.
It probably came with a generator. There is a Cessna service kit to update it to an alternator if you want. I'm not sure if I would though.
The early airbox (pre 1973ish) and associated rube Goldberg linkage sucks. If I had an early model I wanted to keep, I'd probably figure out a way to update it to the later throttle/mixture controls. Odds are the airbox is cracked and the bearings in it are played out.
Setting up the fuel injection on these is black magic unless you RTFI and have the gauges.
Lots of these still running around with the original oil screen. Cessna SK210-160 is the stock oil filter adapter. I like it, some folks don't.
Check the cowl flap hinges. They get worn and then you lose a cowl flap, expensive to replace these days.
I don't think any of the early 185s had the boot cowl assembled with flush rivets like early 180s. If it did, look them over close. They tend to smoke after any hard use. They look cool, but they don't stand up to rough use.
The rear seats on the early models kind of suck. I like the big Cessna bench that was used up through the 75 model. It can be adapted to that one if it isn't set up for it already. the rear seat belt provisions leave a bit to be desired, but its easy to update with shoulder harnesses. AK185-52 I think...
That's a few things that pot to mind real quick. I'll see if I come up with any more.
