Rear Mixture cable

[spurlockda]

Speaking of control cables, I think I am having a problem with them of a different sort.

I believe that in some point in the past, maintenance performed for the owner(s) resulted in the cables being ??re-installed?? Unfortunately, it seems like they were not re-installed in the right locations. Possibly routed incorrectly but one has a huge bow where the cable exits from the tunnel in the aft wheel well and before it goes up through the shelf into the aft engine compartment. In addition, the aft prop and throttle levers have restricted travel at the end of their throws. One way I think I can tell they have been messed with is that they are interleaved in the hyd lines aft of the under-floor pressure bulkhead.

I haven’t been able to find anywhere that explains which control cable goes where between the levers and the engine.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Dave

[hharney]

Have you tried to pressure lube them? This can be a temporary fix until you have time to pull them out and replace them.

[spurlockda]

Thanks Herb for your post.

Actually, now is an opportune time to work on repositioning the cables if in fact they are mis-rigged. I have everything pretty much disassembled because I am - well the plane is - going through an major avionics upgrade and we discovered that the wiring was pretty brittle and had been messed with like the control cables were.

I want to put everything back together right so I’m trying to figure out where to find the ‘right’ answers. I know you are one of those guys with the right answers.

V/r,
Dave

[spurlockda]

Hi folks,

I’m trying to correctly re-install my aft engine quadrant control cables because the previous owner’s people installed them incorrectly I believe. I can identify at least two different kinds of cables based upon their appearance. Two are plain wirewound, two are wirewound with a single spiral flat looking wrap and one is a smaller diameter wirewound with the single spiral flat looking wrap (I’m not at the hangar so I think that is right - I’ll be at the hangar in an hour or so, so i’ll check for sure).

I can tell they don’t seem to be installed correctly because one of them has a large bow in it back where they emerge from the tunnel in the main mount’s wheel wells and then go through the shelf up into the aft engine compartment.

I haven’t been able to find anything in the service manual (updated through change 9).

Thanks,
Dave

[DaveM]

I wish I could help on the different type cables. The flat spiral wrap sounds like a Cable Craft unit. probably custom made. A large loop in the wheel well is not normal routing.

Dave

[spurlockda]

Thanks for the response. I’m going to take some pictures today and I’ll post them.

I’m working hard to get everything proper. The previous owner had a lot of things done over the years and I’m not sure of a lot of them. I was in Naval Aviation for a 30 yr career and I want to make my Skymaster be as close to military style of maintenance as possible. I figure if military maintenance can keep aircraft flying for 50+ yrs with the safety record they have, then their best practices must have merit.

[DaveM]

Good for you. There is a lot of bad maintenance on the Skymasters. A lot of owners don't have the funds to do it right or they have mechanics that do not have the skills to evaluate the maintenance that is really needed. Navy maintenance required changing a lot of parts. The problem is that a lot of the parts are simply not available today so you need someone that can also fabricate and deal with corrosion prevention and issues like that. Good systematic inspection is so important.

Dave M