The Cessna 120-140 Association Forum

Hello all,

After having the tailfeathers off to replace the tailwheel bracket (thanks Lorraine ), I fear I may have stripped the thread inside one of the nut plates for the lower rudder attach bracket. One of the AN3s would not unwind and when I finally did get it off the end 2 or 3 threads on the bolt were slightly compromised.

Can anyone offer words of wisdom on replacing the nut plate. How to do it, is it difficult and any 'gotchas'...

thanks
Graham

Try "cleaning up" the existing one by getting the correct tap for the threads, and run it through. With new bolt, see if you can get to proper torque value. I can see/hear the eyebrows rising! With no photo of the bolt damage, only you can assess the suggestion, 1 1/2c

If you can find a thread chaser instead of a tap, that would be even better. A tap will pretty much destroy the fiber locking of the nut plate, so don't go any farther than absolutely necessary.

Yeah, I thought about that, but the Prof beat me back on. If no thread chaser, use tap, if able to get torque value, remove and add a drop of loc tite and re torque to upper range of torque range as final "safety check".