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Hello,
Has anyone ever replaced the aft bulkhead in the tail PN: 20479-00? I am in the process of doing an annual on a PA-24-180 and found old damage from a gear up that was not addressed about 15 years ago. The tail tiedown struck the ground, oil canning the bulkhead at statin 258 and a crack has developed at the 7 o clock position. This is the bulkhead that the horizontal stab bearing block mount to.
It looks like I’ll need to remove the vertical and de-skin the top portion of the tail to get it out.
Any input is appreciated.
That seems like a bit of work. I am sorry but I have not touched anything except cosmetic replacement in that area. I originally thought you were discussing the fibreglass closure right at the end.
William
HI,
We changed one 10 years ago on a 260B. There used to be a company in Chino, CA that had made dies to stamp out new bulkheads. I can't remember the name, but I believe the owner either retired or passed away and that ended that. I am almost 100% sure that they're not in business anymore. We installed it as an owner produced part which is exactly what it was. We sent the old one to them. They sent us drawings to have the owner sign. The drawings were exactly like the original. Then we received a new bulkhead from them. It was not all that hard to remove the old one. We were able to drill all the rivets out from around it and pull it out. Probably your only option now is to find a good used one or possibly repair the one you have.
Cliff
Heritage Aero, Inc.
Thank you, Cliff!
That was exactly what I wanted to know and those pictures helped a lot. I’ll have to dig around the hangar for my lightning hole dies to see if I have one this large.
So far, the only ones I’ve found in the salvage yards are damaged. Seems like they like dropping the airframes tail first onto the ground. Texas Air Salvage says they have one but, they want $2695 plus shipping. High price for the risk that the rivet holes don’t align. I’ll make my own at that price!
I assume you reused the top portion that has the mount for the vertical stab?
Actually the whole thing came back to us as an assembly.
