Removing Black Vibration Dampening Panels
 

What’s the best way you’ve seen to remove the old black panels? Wouldn’t mind doing that on mine and checking for corrosion when I’m in there.

Removing corroded black vibration dampening pads is easy. If you tap the surface of them and they sound hollow, there's corrosion behind them. Also check the outside of the airplane, especially near any penetrations or near lapped sheets for signs of corrosion. What appears to be a small area of corrosion on the outside may be an extensive area on the inside.

I use a plastic scraper to shear under the edge of the pad. The pad will break at the corroded areas. I haven't had much luck removing the non-corroded ones; they're well stuck. If it's stuck on solid, leave it alone; there's no corrosion.

Note that Cessna says that you don't have to replace the pad. See Cessna Service Newsletter SNL93-3 for lots more info.

black vibration dampening pads
 

I have a C336 for 14 years and I love it. I read with great interest all the posts in this issue, but I am at a loss as to what to look for and where are the “black vibration dampening pads”. Any explanation or pictures will be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Alfonso.

The Cessna manuals call the vibration dampening pads "Soundproofing". They are located all over the airplane. There will be a figure in the Illustrated parts manual with all their locations. (I'm missing that figure. Could someone else post it?)

Remove an interior panel. Behind the panel will be a layer of insulation. Gently remove whatever insulation is there; you may want to put it back. Behind the insulation you'll see the skin of the aircraft. Glued to the skin will be the black soundproofing pads. They're contain lead and they add a small amount of mass to the skin to reduce vibrations which create sound.

The attached photo shows the pilot-side wall of the baggage area. On the right, is a black soundproofing pad which is intact and well secured to the fuselage. On the left, is the white aluminum corrosion that was behind a rectangular soundproofing pad which was removed. The shiny spots show where there was no corrosion. With some effort, the corrosion cleans off back to shiny aluminum metal. Once clean, the metal can be treated to prevent further corrosion.

Not 100% sure the 336 had the dampening pads