So I was rolling down the runway on a cool morning in January, pulled back on the yoke to rotate, and the left side of the 60yr old yoke snapped off in my hand! That'll get your attention. Number one rule, fly the plane, so I just moved my hand over to the center of the yoke and kept rotating and flew that day's mission. Then I'm looking around for a replacement, found one for $300 and I thought, can we just fix this one? Got a surfin' buddy of mine who's a good board builder, ding fixer, etc. so I asked him if he could fix it, he said 'sure', he did and it turned out great. Here are some photos.

Well that would grab your full attention for a few seconds:)

Is that a 170? I always assumed that mine were aluminum under the peeling coating? I wonder what models have which yokes originally?

This is a common problem with these old plastic yoke's. They need to be replaced with metal ones, Cessna made both.

If it was me, I'd swap the yokes from LH to RH.
The repaired side of the broken yoke wouldn't get much use over at the co-pilot station.

Seems like any decent cabinet shop could duplicate one out of laminated hardwood. I personally wouldn't trust a patch-job...no reason to believe it won't break again somewhere else. Most plastics don't get stronger with age.

duplicate

hotrod180 wrote:If it was me, I'd swap the yokes from LH to RH.
The repaired side of the broken yoke wouldn't get much use over at the co-pilot station.

I was thinking the same thing!

@50Tango
Just an FYI - I just replaced those same yokes in my plane for the ram horn ones - if you are looking to replace that broken one... I have the same one if you are interested - same color and style.

Service Letter SL64-8 on these control wheels came out February 14, 1964. This was an inspection of the control wheel for cracks.
The service letter did not allow for any cracks and required a pull test for strength.

Cessna PIlots Association did an article on this and instead of an AD was able to convince the FAA to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin SAIB CE-01-41 that was issued on September 10, 2001.

Upgrading to ram's horn control wheels would be the wise thing to do. We did that on both our 210 and 150.

So I will be the bad guy here. The FAA and Cessna look at the control yoke as a component of the aileron and elevator control system and as such any repair would be considered a major repair. There is no approved repair method for control yokes nor is there approval for the fabrication of a control yoke as an owner produced part. It needs to be replaced with the same part (poor choice) a superseding part or a PMA approved replacement. Any IA who would be willing to sign off an aircraft as airworthy at annual with the repaired yoke installed really is not the person you want inspecting your aircraft and insuring the safety of you and your passengers.

Tim A&P IA

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cessna-150-Con ... SwLEpc2yI6

One or both of these are metal and there are others listed. Several people have repainted and used these.

Buy Replacement metal yokes. You survived one yoke break. Another may not turn out as well. Just not worth the risk.