Flap play

[Tim Harter]

We have been flying our 170 for over a year now. How much play (vertical and horizontal) should the flaps have? I noticed at the annual the a couple flap bolts have put a small notch in the flap false spar when they go to 40 degrees. I didn't notice it when we did the flap roller kit as it only does it with an air load. It's all new rollers, bolts, washers and nuts from McFarlane. It seems like there is a fair amount of play in the flaps but i haven't been around Cessnas for quite some time. Thanks.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Did you check the flap roller slots to make sure the slots were not worn to wide? MacFarlane makes a tool to make this job easy. I think around $40

Otherwise with everything within spec, there is a fair amount of play in the flaps as the rollers don't (can't) fit tight in the track.

[GAHorn]

A 39/64ths drill bit stem can be tried to slip into the flap tracks as a quick-and-dirty check. If the smooth portion of the bit (stem) easily slips anywhere in either slot... the flap track exceeds limits.

The specified limit is 0.6035.

A 39/64 drill bit is 0.6094.

[Tim Harter]

The slots are fine. I guess I’m more worried about the side play and the little notch in the false spar from the bolt. I’ll see if I can get a picture Thursday.