Thanks Zane for your comments on posting. Next time I'll try the other method.

Thanks for going to the trouble of posting those pics.

I see a bunch of reasons why I wouldn't remove and install that bracket out the top, but you do you.

That GIANT hole you cut on the inboard side of the inboard gear bracket has removed a ton of strength from the gear box, all to avoid the use of cherry rivets that the FAA says are perfectly acceptable for that work. I hate using cherry rivets just to be lazy, but they are a valuable too when necessary.

Bending those angles up and then back down is no bueno, but depending on the doublers you added may be acceptable. Any pics of those doublers? I'm curious how you threaded them back over the inner bracket.

A lot of work, just to save a lot of work.....

Here's how to open up from the outside. I'm digging up more pics, might be able to add some more later.

A few notes to do this...

You have to support the engine separately from the airframe when you have the lower engine mount stringer loose. If you don't, the firewall and mount will flex and the weight of the engine will push the stringer back against the forward gear box bulkhead. Not a big deal until you want to cleco the stringer back in place on the boot cowl, but I prefer to support it while it is apart.

you have to pull the skins out far enough to wiggle the bracket through. Sometimes you have to run a file on the edges of the skins a bit so the opening matches the bracket.

This particular airplane had been opened up here before, by a sheet metal butcher, so I had to go oversize on quite a few holes. If you are careful when drilling out the rivets and removing the shanks/tails, you should be able to do this job and no one would ever know, because the rivets are all the original size. This is a huge ego thing for me. I like repairs I do to not look like repairs.

I believe the upper tab that I circled in the pic that ties the gear bracket to the doorpost was originally attached with 5/32" rivets. At some point Cessna upped them to 3/16". I replace them all with 3/16" rivets. the rivet at the back end of this tab is countersunk to clear the bolt that fastens the bracket to the aft gearbox bulkhead.

The lower tab that ties the bracket to the 'bandaid' skin on the belly is almost always cracked. Make a new one.

The bolts that fasten the bracket to the bulkhead have sizes specified in the parts manual. Cessna used huck fasteners but you can go back with bolts no problem. The problem that can arise if you use a P-Ponk bracket is that the flanges on it are thicker. You may need an 1/8" longer bolt and a washer to keep the smooth shank inside the hole rather than having threads in the hole which is not ideal.

There is ONE rivet that you have to pull the strut out to buck. You could put a cherry in there, but if you're this far in, removing and reinstalling the strut should take more than an hour.

I've done a bunch of these. I can have one out on the shop floor in about 4-5 hrs. Install of the new part can vary from 8-16 hrs. I found a crack in the outer bracket on my dad's bird a few years ago on thursday morning. He had a new one overnighted from P-ponk. By the time it showed up friday we had everything read to of back together. I think we had it flying by sunday morning including a bunch or peripheral "while I'm here" work.

Hope these pics work.....

Excellent pictures and comments Limerick and Aeropod, all very helpful! Thanks.

AEROPOD wrote:

In a thread otherwise devout of smiling, this made me smile.

I appreciate the pic's from both posters!!!!!! I don't like cherry rivets either and it kinda bugs me that Cessna used them in my 180K because of the wet wing design. Anyway, it is interesting what one can do and "get by" with. I knew a mechanic that had a 12,000 hr 180H that he had installed Monarch tanks and what he had to do to make them fit. He put a beautiful new paint job on it but what I found interesting was------that angle piece with the double row of rivets on the bottom of the outer gearbox bracket was cracked so wasn't really doing anything. He was killed in an 802 Air Tractor crash so it doesn't matter to him at this point.

Thanks for posting those pics & the narrative, Tony.
Loved the crutch pic!
The upside down pic kinda threw me for a minute though!