help Please.

I have a small crack on my spinner, roughly 1 to 1/14" long and hairline thin. It is coming off of one of the inside mounting screws, forward of the prop and toward the tip, not out on the cylindrical face. Is this a non repairable and grounding fault?

Evidence - The crack was in place at the last annual. Signed off just before I bought the plane 3 months ago.
Counter argument - My instructor removed the spinner and told me not to fly until it is replaced. He says it will unravel with a catastrophic failure. I can find nothing in the 43.13 or Cessna 100 Series Manual that tells me how to repair or argue the reasonable safety.

Used stock spinners are hard to find and expensive. Cessna part is maybe $800? What other options are there? My prop is fairly high time, but I don't have funds to buy a new McCauley prop/spinner set.

Experienced pilots please kick me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

Stop drill it & keep an eye on it for further cracking.

Instructor says stop drilling is specifically not allowed. Again, I can't find anything to back this up.

What documentation to you use to fix this?

I have it on good authority that JB weld on the inside works halfway decent when dealing with cracks developing from the bulkhead mounting holes behind the blades. Stop drill it first, then smear that stuff on. Save up over the next 50 hours and get a new spinner, that temp fix will fail and it'll also be somewhat exciting, but not catastrophic. Just a chunk missing from the spinner. I also heard it'll fly fine with the spinner off in cold temps if you simply decide to remove it. Of course, I wouldn't suggest any of this advice, besides ordering a new spinner.

I flew a stop-drilled Piper spinner for several years without problems. HOWEVER, Piper does not approve. A mechanic told me it was up the the individual aircraft manufacturer to approve or not approve of spinner repairs, including stop drilling, and thought Cessna does allegedly approve of repairs. I don't think it would be easy to find a reference to back that up.

In any case, here are a couple contacts for Repair Stations...

http://www.spinner-repairs.com/ (ASEI)
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php (may just be using ASEI)

I heard it runs around $600 after all is said and done. Double ouch!

I attended a meeting where somebody from our FSDO talked about ramp checks. One topic addressed was spinners. He said stop drilling made it unairworthy.

Below is a link that I found informative (also it says that some repairs to Cessna spinners are permissible):
http://www.risingup.com/forums/airplane ... inner.html

The link below is for a company that does repairs:
http://www.spinner-repairs.com/

Good luck

Look at your original Weight and Balance from Cessna .. O next to spinner is optional. Remove it, log book entry by A&P with W/B. Show that to your instructor.

I think the argument would include the backing plate. The spinner does help direct the air for improved cooling during long max climbs at VY.

Would heli arc welding be a no-no? I'm just asking.
I heli arced the fasteners holes on a cowling that had cracks.
They never cracked again, and I realize this is a spinner
we are talking about. What do you think, is this an option?
46tcrft

Post deleted

Wiggy wrote:help Please.

I have a small crack on my spinner, roughly 1 to 1/14" long and hairline thin. It is coming off of one of the inside mounting screws, forward of the prop and toward the tip, not out on the cylindrical face. Is this a non repairable and grounding fault?

Evidence - The crack was in place at the last annual. Signed off just before I bought the plane 3 months ago.
Counter argument - My instructor removed the spinner and told me not to fly until it is replaced. He says it will unravel with a catastrophic failure. I can find nothing in the 43.13 or Cessna 100 Series Manual that tells me how to repair or argue the reasonable safety.

Used stock spinners are hard to find and expensive. Cessna part is maybe $800? What other options are there? My prop is fairly high time, but I don't have funds to buy a new McCauley prop/spinner set.

Experienced pilots please kick me in the right direction.


Thanks in advance.

Where in Northern New Mexico ? I Have a Ranch near Chama. --As far as your spinner situation there is a place in Wisc. where they will weld for about 300-400 bucks.I've used them but they will crack again. Used spinners (do you have the rounded or bullet nose) run about the same 300-400 bucks .It is legal to fly WITHOUT SPINNER -although not recommended . If I was buying NEW I'd go with a fiberglass unit .Prop shops are a good source for spinners and back plates. When you put spinner back on use plastic washers under screw heads .

The last time I had my prop balanced, the spinner was part of the equation, so much so that he drilled a small hole through it and the casting to make sure it got put back in the exact place it needed to be. Having seen the printout of what 1 gram weights do to the balance of a prop at 3000 rpm's, I sure wouldn't be JB welding it nor would I re-install it even professionally fixed without rebalancing the prop. No wonder people complain about recracking.

Repairs to the spinner by stop drilling or welding can and would need to be signed off by a Powerplant rated mechanic. Not that big of a deal. Ive seen all kinds of wild repairs on spinners. I have stop drilled spinners, and it has worked. I also spent 2 weeks making a Carbon Spinner and backing plate for my Long Eze that lasted 10 minutes. I have a 182 2 blade spinner with no damage on the shelf. Balance the Prop after your repair or replacement and that will make your spinners last longer.

Thanks very much for the excellent and concise advise. I very much apppreciate the knowledge base of this group. I will read all the links and continue to learn.

As you all see in my profile and signature, I'm a full time A&P student. The FAA is here all the time talking to us and looking at our program. I acknowledge being on the ultra conservative side of the learning curve right now. I appreciate your patience and wisdom. The ramp checks and ruler across the knuckles are an every day reality.

182 STOL driver - we are pretty darn near Chama as the crow flies. Just south of TA and south of both the Heron and El Vado lakes. The dirt road leading off of El Vado (Hwy 112) comes right by the front of our place. We are the Llaves part of the Lindrith/Llaves volunteer fire department, just on the southern end of Rio Arriba county. Our driveway comes off of 112 a few miles south of 313 and about 7.5 miles north of the 122 and 96 intersection.

Wiggy wrote:Thanks very much for the excellent and concise advise. I very much apppreciate the knowledge base of this group. I will read all the links and continue to learn.

As you all see in my profile and signature, I'm a full time A&P student. The FAA is here all the time talking to us and looking at our program. I acknowledge being on the ultra conservative side of the learning curve right now. I appreciate your patience and wisdom. The ramp checks and ruler across the knuckles are an every day reality.

182 STOL driver - we are pretty darn near Chama as the crow flies. Just south of TA and south of both the Heron and El Vado lakes. The dirt road leading off of El Vado (Hwy 112) comes right by the front of our place. We are the Llaves part of the Lindrith/Llaves volunteer fire department, just on the southern end of Rio Arriba county. Our driveway comes off of 112 a few miles south of 313 and about 7.5 miles north of the 122 and 96 intersection.

Ever use the EL Vado airstrip ? How about Ghost Ranch ? Rio Grand Gorge ,near the bridge ?Lots of places close -Where's your 182 parked ? Pinion hills ,adobe walls, Questa, Old TAOS airport near the trailer park . Hot springs ? While your learning to fly get Spark Imesons -Mountain Flying Bible and read it/carry with you and absorb the information there . Give me a email at [email protected] and we'll try and help -Bill Reid

P.S. I think I know where another spinner/backplate is ---Johnson &Son Prop shop in Shafter ,CA.

Yup, I've been ramp checked in the most out of the way places multiple times.

I got nailed for hand-propping my plane once in Montrose, (apparently a no-no if you have a starter, so I was told, and had to buy a new battery on the spot to avoid a write-up. I still scratch my head over that one).

Got checked in Blanding, UT- I landed, and the white King Air came out of nowhere, taxied up, and said howdy.

Got checked when I was hangared in GJT when that requirement for a data plate on the tail came through to fight the glorious war on drugs- the guy actually let himself I the plane, found my logs on the seat, and just started going through them like a Louis L'Amour novel by the time I got up there to see what was up. Luckily, the artistic helicopter pilot that owned the hangar had a can of black paint, and went to work doing all our planes inside of an hour as soon as he saw the crew of FAA guys walking around the planes tied down- and it actually looked great, even though the paint was still wet when they walked in the hangar.

In short, they are generally thorough, efficient, and humorless, and it's good to have all the papers in order.

My, all those ramp checks and when I hangared at an a/p with a FSDO I had to make an appointment to get thru their doors and they wouldn't ever pay any attention to anybody on the a/p.

I ordered a copy of the mountain flying book. I wanted to take a mountain flying class, but I'm slammed with school these days.

I've landed at the dirt strip across from the Lindrith fairgrounds a few times, Taos, Espanola, Alamosa, and a few small strips around Alamosa, but not at strips you mentioned. So many strips, so little time. I will keep learning, working, playing....