Alternative for $1800 stall warning switch?

[garytex]

Whew!

67F stall warning lift detector switch Safe Flight Instrument Corp. part #46001 replacement cost of 1800 bucks at Spruce is the worst stupid aircraft part price i've ever seen.  I wonder what Safe Flight's reasoning is?  I may call them and ask come Monday.

I have 2, one that will never sound the horn, one that will never stop sounding the horn.  I'm going to try to fix them, but was looking for a reasonable replacement.

Any ideas or reasonable work arounds?

Thanks Gary  

[Marauder]

Whew!

67F stall warning lift detector switch Safe Flight Instrument Corp. part #46001 replacement cost of 1800 bucks at Spruce is the worst stupid aircraft part price i've ever seen.  I wonder what Safe Flight's reasoning is?  I may call them and ask come Monday.

I have 2, one that will never sound the horn, one that will never stop sounding the horn.  I'm going to try to fix them, but was looking for a reasonable replacement.

Any ideas or reasonable work arounds?

Thanks Gary  

A used one? Check with the Mooney Boogie Man Alan Fox (N74795). He has parted out a few Mooneys and may be able to locate or have a used one. I paid $127 for the stupid static drain on the back. $20 part at best. Unless of course that brass was really gold...

[Sabremech]

I bought a used one last year on Ebay. Works like a champ and at a fraction of the cost of a new one. I'm certain new ones from Safe Flight are priced such that you won't purchase this but buy their AOA instead.

 David

[garytex]

Yes Sabremechanic, I noticed that, and wondered.  

One of the "no-worke" ones came from a junkyard.  I just thought that with the thousands of these things around that a reasonable replacement would be around.  I mean, they get flipped at every walk around, just that alone is many cycles.  In the interim I was in the workroom, and a little contact cleaner seems to have done the trick.  But i'm still surprised that there is no reasonable replacement for such an ubiquitous part at such an iniquitous price.

Gary

[Yetti]

I would think drilling the two rivets out that hold the limit switch in and finding a replacement limit switch would work.  But I have just seen pictures on the internet. There seem to be a fair amount of them on flea bay.   Show us pictures of the underside.

[Guest]

Whew!

67F stall warning lift detector switch Safe Flight Instrument Corp. part #46001 replacement cost of 1800 bucks at Spruce is the worst stupid aircraft part price i've ever seen.  I wonder what Safe Flight's reasoning is?  I may call them and ask come Monday.

I have 2, one that will never sound the horn, one that will never stop sounding the horn.  I'm going to try to fix them, but was looking for a reasonable replacement.

Any ideas or reasonable work arounds?

Thanks Gary  

If you think that's bad, try one with heated face and vane for a FIKI airplane.  While they are expensive I'm sure Safe Flight has some stiff liability limits.  Pitot heads are a similar case, no moving parts and crazy price.

Clarence

[HRM]

I wonder what Safe Flight's reasoning is?  

That switch costs about $20 bucks, the rest is an insurance policy on you.

I'd take the two switches and leave them in my hangar with a note.

I am betting my hangar  elves could get one good unit out of the two.

[takair]

I had the same problem last year.  Working in avionics the thought of not being able to fix one is painful.  The problem is that the switch in the Safefight vane must be built to spec for them. I tried for over a year to find a drop in replacement, finally gave up and got a used one that works.  The switch should be $20 replacement, but 

[M20F]

That switch costs about $20 bucks, the rest is an insurance policy on you.

I'd take the two switches and leave them in my hangar with a note.

I am betting my hangar  elves could get one good unit out of the two.

I find hanger fairies do better work, but I am following you here :-)

[N601RX]

Pictures?

[Jerry 5TJ]

If you think that's bad, try one with heated face and vane for a FIKI airplane.  While they are expensive I'm sure Safe Flight has some stiff liability limits.  Pitot heads are a similar case, no moving parts and crazy price.

Clarence

...and the vane for the PA46 is over $6,000...

[ArtVandelay]

Does anybody know how to correlate Mooney part numbers to Safe Flight part numbers?

[HRM]

I find hanger fairies do better work, but I am following you here :-)

Yeah, but you don't want to drop a wrench and bend over when they're in the hangar.

[KSMooniac]

I'm certain new ones from Safe Flight are priced such that you won't purchase this but buy their AOA instead.

 David

Nice idea, but the new relaxed regs concerning AOA systems stipulate that they cannot substitute in place of existing systems on our planes.  They can only be installed as a supplemental/stand-alone system.

Agree about the insane price of these things and pitot tubes.  I recently priced those since mine was looking kinda ratty and old.  A simple re-chrome fixed that issue nicely after I recovered from seeing the price of a new tube.  

[garytex]

Takair

I was going to open one up & see the guts, but the contact cleaner worked, so next time.  I also have been busy with a lyc defective new cyl kit, so that shortened my tinkering horizons.  I am about to post re the cyl kit, it is an interesting story.

[DrBill]

i had one go bad in my Sundowner.  Took it out and removed the lever (cotter pin). The plunger in the switch was stuck. Pulled out the plunger and a lot of fine dust/dirt came out with it.  Flushed it out with mineral spirits, put it back together and it worked just fine. Had my A&P re-install.  Still worked 3 years later.  It might be same problem as yours.

Bill

 

[garytex]

Dr. Bill, I suspect it was something like that, the contact cleaner flushed quite a bit of dust out of the unit and I blew it out with compressed air and then, worked fine,  I hope it'll last a long time

[takair]

i had one go bad in my Sundowner.  Took it out and removed the lever (cotter pin). The plunger in the switch was stuck. Pulled out the plunger and a lot of fine dust/dirt came out with it.  Flushed it out with mineral spirits, put it back together and it worked just fine. Had my A&P re-install.  Still worked 3 years later.  It might be same problem as yours.

Bill

 

I started a small collection of bad ones.  In my case it was the internal contacts, the plunger worked fine.  The micro switch is sealed once you have the switch out of the housing.

[M20F-1968]

I had two and sold them both after about a year.  Got about $300 each.  The point of the story is that they can be bought used as they are not replaced often.  Call Wentworth aircraft salvage in Minnesota.  They may have one on the shelf.  You might also try Dallas Air Salvage as they are in the heart of Mooney land.  I would not try to either fix them or substitute the switch for something else.

John Breda

[Immelman]

Elbow grease and a $5 can of contact cleaner.. work the hell out of that switch with it removed from the airplane, bathed right side up, upside down, sideways, all drenched in contact cleaner,  and it may come back to life for you...but that's the easy part.

But on the elbow-grease part, what a pain in the butt that thing is to R&R. You have been warned. Also it needs to be re-installed precisely to still give a proper stall warning; mark with a small scribe in a couple places.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Immelman