I’ve tried to find pics of older model 206s or 205s with steps but haven’t found any that were clear enough to see the rivet lines or details where they mounted them. I know of someone with a newer 206 that has them. I need to see if he can send me some pics. But I think the newer 206s have different ducting for the heater so they might not have that obstacle.

I think the best place may have been up and to the right...at the junction of the two rivet lines. But that would have been too high to reach. It’s already pretty high.

You may want to drill out the rivets on the stringer above and the flange on the floor below and insert a doubler the same thickness as the skin to support the step. That way the skin does not flex between the doubler you show in your photo and the hard point created by the stringer/flange. May be add a rivet between each of those in the stringer along the top and duplicate the rivet size and spacing on the forward and aft edge. Cessna has a similar installation in the repair of cracks in the fuselage skin of 172s caused by the step in service kit AK172-168J. The doubler you show in the photo does a good job of keeping the fasteners on the step from deforming the skin but does little to reduce flexing of the skin. Hope this helps, just an idea, I am sure there are many ways to skin a cat.

Tim

There is a picture of a 1980 206 on floats on Barnstormers right now. Looks to me like the step is just about touching the wing strut fairing so is back to that rivet line and lower. Maybe the heater duct should have been removed for the install and then replaced or maybe a different shape duct was used.

Thanks Tim. That sounds like the consensus from another A&P friend.

Marty, yeah that seems to be where most others I’ve seen are positioned. The long plastic part of the ducting goes through the structure, so even with removing it I don’t know how you’d get a doubler in there. Or have room to put the ducting back in. There was probably a way. But now I’ve got to deal with the hand I dealt myself. Or fill holes and try to figure that location out.

Grassstrippilot wrote:Thanks Tim. That sounds like the consensus from another A&P friend. .....

That sounds like a good way ro go.

So, a few weeks ago I got ahold of Brian at Wing & a Prayer (he did my baggage extension) up in the Mountain Home area to see if he had some ideas for reinforcing my sidesteps. I gave him some time to think it over and called him back. He said he had some thoughts and to bring it up. The price and time was more than reasonable (a couple hours and a couple hundred bucks), so off I went. It’s solid as a rock now. The only flex is in the step itself. Once again, I’m very impressed with his work.

One note though, apparently that 3M no-slip stuff needs to sit for a while. About two hours after putting them on I left for a camping trip. Flew through some rain. Next thing I know, I watched the one on the left strut blow right off! I was surprised with how sticky that stuff is! I lost three of the four. But the one step that didn’t fall off had some time to sit and looks to be there for good now!

I don't know what you'd call them, but those reinforcements beefing up the Atlee Dodge doubler look very nicely done!
(no "epoxy special" for you, eh? )

Yeah he basically manufactured two ribs that were contoured to fit, fluted them, and installed. His original plan went out the window when he saw what he had to deal with. So this was the result of a few minutes of formulating a game plan. Pretty cool to watch him do his thing.

Always cool to watch someone skilled do their thing--
Whether its fabricating & riveting, running a cat or crane, or flying an airplane.

Cory thanks for all the info. I finally made it to Brians today. He is a master of his craft and a lot of fun to watch work. The steps and handles are an excellent addition to the airplane.

So glad it worked out. Yeah, Brian is an awesome guy and great at what he does.

I apologize for bringing up an old thread. Are there any photos of the doubler installation for the handles? I have my 56 182 torn apart and intend to add these going back together.

There's a photo of the A-D doubler on this page.
P/n 3354D, just a channel, stainless as I recall.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... YsGB0E8nKi

They're not Cessna parts, but cessna has acessory kit instructions that seem to be applicable.

https://fadodge.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 168J-1.pdf

FWIW the boot cowl handles need doublers,
if you're also buying the boot cowl steps they do not.