Interior screws

[aaronk25]

Anyone else have issues with the screws backing out that help hold the plastic interior panels secure below the left rear and forward windows/ below the pilots shoulder harness/seat belt.

They don't thread into anything other than the carpet and the flimsy backing material so eventually they keep backing out. Any tricks? Or is there any screws available that have larger teeth that could actually torque into the carpet?

Just replaced my interior but this issue predates it. Kinda gives the back seat passenger a uneasy feeling when they see screws backing out . If the panels were new I wouldn't even drill the hole, but now there is empty holes.

Thanks,

Aaron

[DrBill]

Something does not sound right.. My interior plastic screws are tiny and they all screw into metal on the backside. Some of the screws were replaced by previous work when the original ones stripped but I've worked the material to make the hole smaller and use orginal size screws.

BILL

[N601RX]

If they are close to an edge on the material that the screw is threaded into you can use a tinnerman nut or clip nut. You can also use rivet nuts if there is enough material to hold them.

[Mike A]

On a side note, does anyone know what sizes the interior screws are for a M20K?  It appears there are 2 distinct sizes used for the majority of the interior.

[jetdriven]

truss head #4 x3/8" on the small ones around the window frames and the rest are #6 oval head (x1/2"?) with finishing cup washers.

[201er]

Anyone else have issues with the screws backing out that help hold the plastic interior panels secure below the left rear and forward windows/ below the pilots shoulder harness/seat belt.

Yeah. Half of mine fell out during the last trip. Pain

[carusoam]

Anyone use the blue (removable) thread lock on that?

Best regards,

-a-

[OR75]

Tinnerman nuts when you can access

Just be carefull not to damage the multitude of wires, cables, tubes and conduits behind the plastic   

[DaV8or]

I don't have an answer to this question, I too am curious because mine fall out too. It is really annoying how much of our planes inside and out, are fastened together with sheet metal screws. A terrible choice for things that flex and vibrate and are made of aluminum. Clearly, the original engineers never intended our planes to last as long as they have.

[Rhumbline]

I don't have an answer to this question, I too am curious because mine fall out too. It is really annoying how much of our planes inside and out, are fastened together with sheet metal screws. A terrible choice for things that flex and vibrate and are made of aluminum. Clearly, the original engineers never intended our planes to last as long as they have.

 

Someone -probably my mechanic- sardonically asserted that Mooney was actually in the screw business and created a market with its airplanes.

 

As for longevity, I recall having read somewhere (possibly in Those Remarkable Mooneys?) that Hoffman, Rachal or another of those execs back in the '60's estimated a typical lifetime for their airplanes of 22 years.  Getting stretched a bit, eh?  That leads me to another topic I've been ruminating over but that's for another time on another thread...