Oil dipstick- rarer than gold

[8164]

C90-12F. I need a new oil dipstick. I am aware of and familiar with Continental Bulletin SIL00-7A and my part number is 649608-17. They are $280 (!!!!!???) at Univair. For a dipstick?

So has anybody here attempted to repair one? Mine has the little “ears” and two springs inside. One spring is missing, so it comes loose in flight. Nothing in the parts book nor the overhaul manual. Nothing anywhere except the bulletin and there are no internal part numbers listed. None on eBay or any of the parts vendors. They seem to be like gold nuggets…

(Note that this photo is from another user here but is identical to mine.)

[4004]

Go to ACE hardware - locally they have a large assortment of springs in metal box - ask. Look for a suitable replacement, diameter, etc. Cut to length as required, clean stick well , and slide spring into place with just a dab of JB weld or super glue on just the bottom rung, let cure and manually exercise off the AC to test. FWIW

[6643]

It's probably a tractor part. Find a similar cap and use parts from it to fix yours, or rivet your dip stick on it. Somewhere I have a readily available cap I use to pressure test the oil tanks. Probably came from NAPA or O'Reilly.