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- Oct 12, 2014
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Yesterday was a mix of good and bad; started good, then looked real bad, and ended good. Well, it was bad for the guy whose Icon A5 was leaning against my hangar door after going off the runway and over a retaining wall, ripping off the landing gear, but I digress... Anyway, after flying to warm up the oil I pulled the cowl, drained the oil, removed and checked the screen, which was nice and clean, and put things back together... and broke one of the bolts holding the screen on. Uh-oh, this could be ugly.
I must be living right, though. After pulling it back apart again and also pulling the oil cooler adapter, it turned out the broken bolt was sticking 1/4" out of the accessory housing, where it came easily out with a pair of pliers.
Here's the thing, though. The three unbroken bolts are grade 5 bolts from the head markings (one is a 5/16, somebody must've stripped and retapped it, the others are 1/4"). The broken one had no head markings. The Lycoming parts manual simply calls out a "STD-1856" bolt, which is a 1" long hex bolt with a screwdriver slot... but with the oil cooler adapter the bolts need to be 2". Anyway, I put it back together with a new grade 5 bolt from the aviation aisle of the local true value hardware store, checked for leaks, and went flying again. But should I be worried about getting the "proper" bolt, whatever it is? If it was an AN airframe bolt I wouldn't consider using a hardware store equivalent, but these are coarse thread.
I must be living right, though. After pulling it back apart again and also pulling the oil cooler adapter, it turned out the broken bolt was sticking 1/4" out of the accessory housing, where it came easily out with a pair of pliers.
Here's the thing, though. The three unbroken bolts are grade 5 bolts from the head markings (one is a 5/16, somebody must've stripped and retapped it, the others are 1/4"). The broken one had no head markings. The Lycoming parts manual simply calls out a "STD-1856" bolt, which is a 1" long hex bolt with a screwdriver slot... but with the oil cooler adapter the bolts need to be 2". Anyway, I put it back together with a new grade 5 bolt from the aviation aisle of the local true value hardware store, checked for leaks, and went flying again. But should I be worried about getting the "proper" bolt, whatever it is? If it was an AN airframe bolt I wouldn't consider using a hardware store equivalent, but these are coarse thread.
