Interior door handle replacement

[Deputydog]

I need to change out my passenger side interior door handle. I scored one from the classic Chevy 40's website. Any tips or videos of how to do it so I don't screw something up?

[GAHorn]

Take a look at this thread, which shows the tool and the alternate method using a rag: http://cessna170.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... ve#p122842

[Deputydog]

Take a look at this thread, which shows the tool and the alternate method using a rag: http://cessna170.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... ve#p122842

Ok thank you very much!

[Deputydog]

Just wanted to follow up on this, I used the handle in that linked thread and it worked perfectly!

Oh and the handle comes with a pre-installed clip in it so no other clips need to be purchased!

Thank you everyone!

[swixtt]

so what door handle is the exact fit on that site?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

so what door handle is the exact fit on that site?

If you get the correct door handle for the spline you have in your airplane, it will be an exact duplicate of your old handle. The same handle is available from several vendors. If you have a 54 or later, the spline and door handle are different. Originally Cessna used a handle from a '53 Mercury. These exact handles are not remanufactured and originals are scarce as hens teeth. I've documented this and other door handles that will fit 54 and later splines in another door handle thread. http://www.cessna170.org/forums/viewtop ... it=mercury

[GAHorn]

What Bruce writes is/was very helpful. However, there are lots of ways information can/may be confusing or contradictory.

As has been discussed elsewhere, relying upon the “year model” description of your airframe can be troublesome. The FAA’s description of your year model is based upon the initial application for an Airworthiness Certificate for that airframe. However, the Serial Number/Constructor Number of the airframe will determine the “build” or actual model of the aircraft. An example is my “1953 B-model, which the Airworthiness and Registration certs describe as a 1952 model... because it actually came off the assy line in Nov. 1952. However, it’s SERIAL number is 25713... which is actually a LATE 1953 model-design. (Early 1953 serials used the early type landing gear legs, while the late models (post 25612) had the “lady legs” installed.).

There are other differences within the 1953 model year alone, and other surprises can lie in-wait for airplane owners. Example: Why did Bruce’s A-model have dihedral? Answer: There are plenty of examples of undocumented modifications within the fleet. (No, it didn’t have B model wings. It had L-19 wings. I don’t think we knew which struts it had to create the dihedral). That doesn’t mean an airplane is not airworthy. It only means it’s not completely documented. If you think about it virtually every airplane in the fleet likely has this situation in minor ways (and a few in major ways) ... yet they may be perfectly safe to fly and have been certified every year as “airworthy” by someone supposedly qualified to know.

Back to door handles: It’s possible your door-handle spines are original... or not ...and not documented. Just because you THINK your airplane is un-modified is not necessarily factual.
The Mercury automobile interior door handles Bruce wrote of... have a particular shape very different than the earlier handles. I’m not talking about only the splines... I mean the flatter bladed and the larger, escutcheon which is incorporated into the handle itself (while the earlier escutcheons were separate discs which reside beneath the handle and the door panel. Those handles are easily identified because of their shape and appearance.
Bruce wrote about a situation he discovered that when some owners purchased early handles that they would not fit the later splines of their late B-model... DUE TO THAT CHANGE of handle design with it’s different splines. (My airplane lives it’s daily life with the early 1940’s Chevy handles ...just like most pre-54 models.)

Yet, I had a late Mercury-style handle...and it FIT PERFECTLY my 1953 B-model which ordinarily would have been expected to have the early splines.

Why? I don’t know. But there is a disconnect between what Bruce discovered .... and what actually existed with regard to my “53 model”.

All I know is... that Mercury door handle fits my early (Chevy) spines. It raises the question, “Is it possible that some “Mercury” style handles also existed with earlier-style splines?”

So.... THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS to many of the things we think we know about this airplane. Exceptions occur because of erroneous/missing documentation and errors in history of modifications on these airplanes. Just sayin’....

[johnsunday]

My ‘74 170B S#26330, an Alaska airplane, may have a door off an older bird, and I need a new interior door handle too.
My door spline in nothing like the ‘74 Bruce posted. The end of mine is spuare with the clip groove cut into the spline approx 3/16” from the end of the shaft, and if I knew how to post a pix of it, I would. I’m going to try and sent it to Bruce and see if he can tell me what the replacement it....

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

John, you have an early spline in that door. So a door handle that will fit a '48-'53 170, will fit it.

And BTW George, it is not the splines themselves that are different, it is where the clip slot is cut that is different. '54 and later splines have the slit cut on the inside of the splines. The pictured one has it cut on the outside.

IMG-4045.JPG

[GAHorn]

John, you have an early spline in that door. So a door handle that will fit a '48-'53 170, will fit it.

And BTW George, it is not the splines themselves that are different, it is where the clip slot is cut that is different. '54 and later splines have the slit cut on the inside of the splines. The pictured one has it cut on the outside.

IMG-4045.JPG

RIght, (Unfortunate choice of wording in my description).

What was interesting to me was the Mercury-style handle fit my ‘53 shafts just fine, and were properly retained. I didn’t expect that.

[johnsunday]

Thank-you guys very much for your service to the club!
I’ve ordered a couple of ‘60s Chevy Pickup handles I’ve heard would work.... I’ll let you know.

John Burnett

[GAHorn]

Here’s the one that fits 53 and previous: https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail/89 ... _4048.html

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

What was interesting to me was the Mercury-style handle fit my ‘53 shafts just fine, and were properly retained. I didn’t expect that.

I wouldn't expect it either. And I wouldn't count on the Merc handle staying on correctly. I suspect the Merc handle with the clip on the inside of the splines was held in place not by a proper slop for the clip, but clip hit the splines themselves keeping it on.

[n2582d]

I wanted to add some research I've done on door handles. There are three different part numbers given in the three C-170 IPC's. The odd p/n is for the 1948 C-170 -- p/n 4099781. Odd because the p/n doesn't begin with a zero like most Cessna part numbers. It turns out this is a p/n for the rear door handle of 1946-1948 Buicks. Here's a screenshot from page 25 in a Buick catalog.

Buick Rear Inteior Door Handle.png

The photos of Cessna p/n 4099781 on the BAS website match those of Buick handles for sale on eBay.

Buick Door Handles.png

Similarly, the escutcheon on the '48 C-170 -- p/n 4132059 -- was found on Buicks and Cadillacs of that time period.

Edit: Looking at Bruce’s photos of an “untouched 48” C-170, the handle does not match my description above. It looks like what I think is p/n 0511183. Could some ‘48 owners chime in to share what their handles look like?

IMG_1133.jpeg

The second p/n covers the handles on the C-170A through the 1953 C-170B (s/n 26038) -- p/n 0511183. In a pile of parts for my 1952 C-170B I have two sets of handles as seen below.

Handles.jpg

They vary slightly in design. The one set matches those seen on the Chevys of the 40's website. But I'm wondering if the style on the right, with the chevrons and a slight ridge along the handle, might be original??? It does match this one at Dawson Salvage.

IMG_1132.jpeg

The third p/n -- p/n 0511189 -- for the 1954 C-170B (s/n 26039) through mid 1958 C-172 has been thoroughly researched by Bruce here.

[cessnut]

I think you are correct. I have good reason to believe that the handles in my '52 are original, and they match the one in the right side of your photo.