The following are the suppliers where I have found good aviation products, Cessna parts, tools, and other things. Again I am not endorsing them. I am only listing them for your reference. My comments are my experience with them. It is just my opinion that is based in my own experience, taste, practicality, and utilization.
KRN Aviation. 1-800-366-6462. ask for Wayne ext. 141 or at wayne@krn.com . Good service and a lot of parts. Use the Cessna 170 Parts Catalog to find your part number. It is easier to find what you want and be correct if you use the right part number. I hope Wayne is still there. I have not called him in over a year (Wayne is still there and doing a good job). Helpful people. I bought many Cessna parts from them. New set of door upper hinges (never used) was one of the best finds.
North Sound Aviation. 30578 Walberg Road, Sedro Woolley, WA. 98284. James Blaine Hayton. He does inspection and recertification of the spring landing gear legs for Cessnas. Also works on wings, tail feathers, etc. He has original Cessna jigs for wings, and fuselage. Great source of parts and custom work. Very helpful person.
Kenmore Air Harbor, Inc. 6321 N. E. 175TH Street, Kenmore, WA. 98028-4898. Parts Dept: (425)486-3224, 1-800-423-5526 ask for Bob. Good supply of Cessna parts, Continental engine parts, and aircraft materials.
Preferred Airparts. Kidron, Ohio. www.PreferredAirparts.com Good supply of new original Cessna parts. Great service and website. You can check parts availability on the website and get a quote. They answer quick all the time.
Specialty Aviation. Cessna used Parts. 1-800-500-6786. You can also contact Brian at specair@bendnet.com Nice personal service. Their service and effort has been great . They only deal with used parts. Check with them. They always return your calls.
Upper Valley Aviation 604-792-0735. Cessna parts.
AV-PAC. 1-800-228-1836 Jim Gifford Ext. 8853. Cessna Parts. I bought all control cables from them. Great help.
Spencer Industries, Inc. 206-763-0800. Seattle. General supplies. Rivets, fastenings, tools, hydraulic hoses, finishing products, etc. They have a catalog. Great people.
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. 1-877-477-7823. www.aircraftspruce.com Very well know supplier. Very large catalog. You can find almost everything you need. Because the catalog has so many products sometimes it is difficult to get help if you have questions about a product. Depending on the sales person that is taking care of you, he/she may be able to answer your questions. In some cases if they do not know the answers, they give you a way to communicate direct with the manufacturer of the product. Thus, you can get your questions answered by the manufacturer. In any case, the people at Spruce are always very helpful and accommodating. Very few back orders. Quality of products are from good to excellent.
Bogert Aviation. 308 S. Perry Place, Kennewick, WA 99336. 509-736-1513. They have different products. I have ordered several of them. All have been proven excellent. The products I have used are Fuselage Rotator (see pictures), Landing Gear Safety Stand, Wing Rotator, and Universal Jack Pad. Great service from them. When I tried to install the Fuselage Rotator, it did not fit the engine mount bolt layout. I called them and explained the problem and suggested a solution. They listened and in a couple of days I got the adaptors. You can see them in the picture. They are the ones not painted red in the upper right and left part of the fire wall. The best part was that they made them free for me. This is what I call product support. They have a small catalog, Ask for it.
Univair Aircraft Corporation. 2500 Himalaya Road, Aurora, Colorado, 80011, 303-375-8882. You can use their website for parts availability and price at www.univair.com They have a big catalog of parts and supplies for Cessnas. I bought the complete set of skins for the cowling, skull cap spinner, and tail spring. They have other parts for the Cessna 170. A good source of parts. As an update (1/22/03) some of the parts available a year ago are not longer available and they will not make them anymore. One in question is the carburator air scoop (the long one for airplane S/N 19200 and on) under the cowl. The problem with this is that we are now at the mercy of Cessna. This scoop is listed at Cessna for over $3,000. A year ago Univair price was well under that. I am sorry I did not purchase it from them at that time. I will have to fix mine it has a couple of small cracks. They still have other parts.
Brown Aviation Tool Supply Co. 3801 S. Meridian Ave. Oklahoma City, OK. 73119. 1-800-587-3883, www.browntool.com A good source of tools. Good prices in Sioux air tools. Very good quality tools.
Chief Aircraft. Grants Pass Airport, 1301 Brookside Blvd. Grants Pass, Oregon 97526. Orders at 1 800-447-3408. Information 541-476-6605. A good catalog store. Good products and great service. You can find tools and parts for at a competitive price.
Wag-Aero Group. P.O. Box 181, 1216 North RD., Lyons, WI 53148. 1-800-558-6868. Website www.wagaero.com Good source of part, materials, tools. Fair prices. Good service.
Galvin Flying Service. 7149 Perimeter Road, Boeing Field, Seattle, WA 98108. (206) 763-0350. Good source of Cessna and Continental Parts. Carburator overhaul etc. Good service. Flying instructions.
Yingling Aviation. Cessna Parts. Many of them. Check their website at www.yinglingaviation.com or you can go direct to Terry Logan at tlogan@yinglingaviation.com Great services and prompt answer. You can also contact them by phone at 1-800-835-0083.
I want Cessna Parts. This is a website where you can check for parts availability and cost in real time. Their website is www.iwantcessnaparts.com I just ordered some parts (1/22/03). I will tell you later about their services. I found them surfing the web.
Allied Technical Services Corp. Also Pacific Aircraft Welders. They are owned by Steve Hansen and John Shockley. A pair of nice guys. Very knowledgeable and with a lot of skills. They do many things. Precision machine work, steel/aluminum welding, powder coating, galvinizing etc. If you need to repair something they are the guys to do it. Best recommendation. They are in Seattle near Boeing Field. 6239 Airport Way So., Seattle, WA 98108, (206)763-3316. www.security-one.com/lesd/Allied/ You can e mail them at AlliedTech@worldnet.att.net
Tools & Products:
The following are tools and products that I have bought, used and tested. I am not endorsing any one product. What I say is my honest opinion. Some of you may disagree. I am not going to talk about every tool I have. I will list the ones I feel that have the most contribution to my learning, the ones that have helped the most, the ones I have used the most, and the ones I feel are just great and smart design.
Bogert Aviation Fuselage Rotator. It is sold by Bogert Aviation, see suppliers above. This has been the most practical and useful tool up to this moment. After some minor re-design the tool worked perfectly. I used it during paint removal. It worked great especially when doing the underside of the fuselage. It saved you a lot of suffering by avoiding paint remover falling on you. Excellent for structural and other inspections. Was very handy for rivet removal. One could positions the fuselage in the best attitude. It is worth every penny. Price is reasonable. Looking forward in using it for painting and polishing.
Bogert Aviation Wing Rotator. I have not used it. I believe if it will work as the fuselage rotator it will be very useful. Wait until I try it I will write my findings.
Bogert Aviation Landing Gear Safety Stand. These are great. After you remove the wheels you install them on the axels and prevent the airplane for accidentally falling. It is better than any blocking. One of the most common damage to threads on the axels is when the leg falls of the block or jack and the threaded end of the shaft hits the ground. These stands will prevent that from happening. A good buy in my opinion.
Bogert Aviation Universal Jack Pad. This is another tool that will save you a lot of headaches. It adapts to all Cessna spring legs. It is a lot safer than using the old "C" clamps and wood system that I used before. Handy to have onboard with a small jack.
Rivet Removal Tool. It is a tool that you use with your electric or air drill. It is adjustable to provide the right depth for drilling the head of rivets. The tool comes with drill bit and guides. When removing rivets I found that it was better to buy at least two of them to have them set to the proper depth for different sizes of rivets. It is important to first develop a feeling for it before starting to drill, and to maintain constant pressure with the guide on the rivet head. It works great on rivets that have easy access. The tool is quite long and in confined spaces there is not room for it. Thus, one has to use the standard way of free drilling. It work well especially when the head of the rivet has lost the dimple in the center of the head because of age, sanding or polishing. It save you having to center punch it. If you have a lot of skill and experience in removing rivets you may not need this tool. For me they have been useful. Just think of it as training wheels. You can find them in any good catalog store. I bought mine from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty. Catalog # TP-276
Pliers Wrench. This is a very handy tool. Gary gave it to me. Robert Richey was the one that rocommended to buy this tool. Gary got a pair from Snap-on Tools. The catalog number is ADP7. The yaws in this pliers move parallel to each other. Thus, they can compress any material like a vise. When one punchs out rivets stubs sometimes the rivet holes are pushed out. Also dimples are created sometimes because of the rivet heads pressure. Well to flaten these craters and dimples you generally use a bucking bar and a hammer. This tool simplifies this work in rivet holes near the edges of the parts (90% of them are near the edges). The yaws of this pliers will squeeze the material and flatten them. Care should be taken when using the tool especially in parts that have a flange. If you go too far into the flange the end of the yaws will dent the inside radius of the flange. This can be minimized by grinding the end of the yaws with an small radius. This not totally eliminate this problem but reduce the effect. Just keep an eye when working with a part that has a flange. If the part is completely flat you still have a problem if you push the yaws too far in. The inside end of the yaws sometimes marks the edge of the part. This can also be fixed with some minor surgery. Thus, just use the flat side of the yaws and watch both ends. I also filed smooth the inside faces of the yaws. I did this to take off forging or casting marks in the inside surfaces that can mar the aluminum surface and also to make them exactly parallel. You can do that by squeezing the file or emeril paper between the yaws. The time saving by using this pliers compensate for these minor drawbacks. Buy two of them. You can straighten many bended edges and parts by using them in pairs. Also works great as a quick wrench. Handy tool.
Still working on more wait for later upgrades. Tools section needs to be edited by Karen Perla Chief Editor.
