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Finally saw the light on split washer vs safety wire for control linkages
I've been using safety wire on every control linkage for maybe 8 years now. Last Tuesday I was helping a guy in San Antonio swap out a rudder cable and he pulled out these split washers from his tool roll. I laughed at first. But he showed me the maintenance manual for that specific Cessna model and sure enough it called for split washers on those bolts. Took him maybe 5 minutes for the whole job versus my usual 20 minutes of twisting wire. Now I'm wondering how many other planes I've been overthinking. Anyone else ever found a simpler approved method after years of doing it the hard way?
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ruby_bell4711d ago
Man that San Antonio guy really opened your eyes. "I laughed at first" - I would've done the exact same thing. Did the exact same thing actually. Worked on a 172 last month and a retired Delta mechanic walked over and showed me some turnbuckle method that wasn't in any manual I'd ever seen. Felt like an idiot for wasting hours over the years. Hard to shake that habit of doing it the hard way just because that's how you learned.
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joseph_green1311d ago
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kimblack11d ago
Man you're not wrong. That whole ego thing cuts deep when someone shows you a way easier method after you've been cranking on stuff for years. I saw a video of some old timer doing a wire lock with like half the steps and just sat there staring at my screen feeling personally attacked. We all act like we know the best way until somebody walks up and proves us wrong in ten seconds flat. Pretty sure half this trade is just getting humbled over and over again honestly.
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