Utah20Gflyer Posted Wednesday at 09:16 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 09:16 PM 2 hours ago, Bobaran said: Very helpful to know I can switch the radios to check the MX170B. I know the KX170B nav does work with a CDI. Do these navs only act as radios which transfer the signal to the CDI? Sent from my SM-A526U using Tapatalk Yeah, your plane probably had two King KX 170 radios and then someone replaced one of them with the TKM MX 170. This was a popular upgrade because you slide the King out and slide the TKM in and you’re done. Kind of like upgrading a Garmin 430 with the Avidyne 440. With no install it’s very appealing. Only downside is the TKM radios have a rep for not being very durable. When I sent mine in to get repaired they said it was not repairable and offered to sell me a new one for 2500 or 3000. I ended up putting in the Garmin 255 because I wanted a modern radio that had an internal ILS receiver and was concerned about how long the new TKM would last. I thought that might be a KI 214 CDI but wasn’t sure. If that’s the case then it gets the localizer/VOR signal from the radio and the ILS receiver is inside the KI 214. I also had a KI 214 in my plane when I bought it and it was bad. I also understand from my research that they are not repairable. KI 214s like the TKMs seem to have lots of problems. If you swap the radios yourself be careful of the locking lug that you have to loosen to remove it. If you turn it the wrong way too hard you can actually damage the radio. If you need to replace the king radio I have a kx 175b I’d sell you for 250, I’ll throw the ILS receiver in for free. The 175 is the certified version of the 170, they are interchangeable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOH Posted Wednesday at 10:03 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 10:03 PM 9 hours ago, gwav8or said: Absolutely. I had Ed at kx-155.com do the work. I would not hesitate to send another radio to him. Very good work. Ed specializes in the kx-155 and has decades of experience. I sent my radio to him and a couple days later he sent me videos of the issues that he found with the radio. I approved the repairs and again a couple days later he sent me a video of my repaired/overhauled radio. The radio looks and performs like it's brand new. I believe the cost was right around $2k. I knew what the cost would be going into it and felt like it was 100% worth it. To get a Garmin radio purchased and installed, the price would have been at least 3x what I paid to have the kx-155 repaired. I feel like if I even get 2-3 years use out of it, it will still be worth it. @gwav8or Thanks! I wondered if Ed was where you sent yours; I've thought about using him and now I will The KX-155 is still my favorite COM radio; works when the Garmin 430's doesn't. Not sure if it has more power, or what (frankly, I think the RF engineers at King were better than any Garmin has ever employed, IMHO as a EE). Mine's just getting a little long-in-the tooth; NAV knobs are getting 'crunchy', a couple of display segments are going out, and I get an occasional 'buzzing' that may or may not be something in the rack connectors...time for a 'tune-up'! $2K sounds reasonable to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammdo Posted Wednesday at 10:11 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 10:11 PM Ditto for Ed, he did the same for mine… knows his stuff… -Don 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammdo Posted Wednesday at 10:23 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 10:23 PM My repair was estimated at $1350 after he inspected things. Can vary depending on what he finds - mine looked like new afterwards… -Don 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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