Saving Money on Parts
 

In another thread, Oscardeuce started looking for an O-2A alternator and ended up buying one from Yingling (a Cessna dealer). In a parts-purchasing seminars which Jerry DeSantis is planning for Nashville, I’ll tell you why Yingling is the LAST call I make when looking for a part.

Don’t get me wrong, Yingling is my first call if I know that the part I need can only come new from Cessna, because Yingling provides wonderful customer service and gives you a 10-15% discount. But, working closely with my A&P, I go through a process which starts by asking “can I buy this used, as-removed from a tear-down aircraft?” and also considers PMA parts and new-surplus parts. Do it right and you’ll save a ton of money. I’ll show you how to do it and who you should be buying from -- in Nashville.

Ernie

I have found about the same experience, though I have never bought anything from Yinkling. I always go anywhere legal and safe before I'll give up and buy from Cessna. There are a number of good parts sources. We've listed them either here or on Peter's site in the past, I know.

Paul:

I'm planning on adding more parts sources, beyond those mentioned in this website and Peter's. Also, some of the info on those websites is not in a concise, centralized place, but spread over many web pages and hard to find, so I'll have a hand-out with a convenient list.

Finally, my experience has been that some of the tear-down shops sometimes which advertise having 337 parts don't have squat. My plan is to tell you who has parts and who doesn't. And who can be relied upon to take the parts back without a hassle if the part doesn't pass your inspection on arrival -- a key feature when buying used parts.

Ernie