Thank you, Richard Dreyfuss. Good advice.

Dean, great stuff sir! I’ve always performed that exact check on the stabilator and I have my students do the same. What I didn’t know, until watching this, was that there are only 2 bolts holding the stab on. I’ll pass this along to my students!

I own an arrow... definitely something to look for! Thanks for sharing

Great information!

One of the quickest subscriptions I’ve done ✅ awesome video! Thank you 🙏

"2 little 1/4" bolts" they're NAS1104-17 bolts with a (minimum) tensile strength of 160,000 psi (each) and secured from falling out with a locknut. Don't believe they're just going to snap off or the nut is just going to fall off. There's hardly tension on the bolts aside from the 70-90in lb torque when the nuts are first put on. A common mistake that people have is to periodically check the torque which only serves to stretch the bolt and ruins things. Lube the hinge bolts with MIL-L-7870 every 100 hours. LPS 1,2,3 don't meet the mil spec. This comes from the maintenance manual which you can check for yourself.

I just checked mine and there was slight play in it. Going to have it looked at before I fly again. Thank you

No wonder I ended up here as I had severe rattling sound from the back of my airplane just few mins ago after I got airborne. I first assumed the cargo door must have opened up, but the door was intact. After landing I checked elevator trim tab and as I was moving it up n down it felt very loose on the big vertical bolt, the washer on the vertical bolt appeared very loose when I played the elevator up n down

I check this on my Dakota before every flight. It seems crazy that it is not held on with more and thicker bolts.

Thanks Dean ! Good point ! ! !

Thanks for the info!!

hi, also you need move to forward and after, because you can have lateral play by inside damages. we discovered an internal damage in one upper stringer and when you move to forward the last portion of fuselaje colapse.

I have trim problem. Seems trim changed in flight, wants to go nose up. Works on ground ok. Made videos (on Ground). Talking to my A&P about this. It’s a 1971 pa28-140 with little over 2800 hours.

Thanks for the video! 2 of the 3 Cherokees at my school have a noticeable amount of play… is there any information in the manual that has a set limit to allowable movement? I feel the school should have it repaired but want to show them that it is in fact not allowable…

Just a bolt to sustain that heavy tail load to counter act the down pitching moment of the ac...

The stabilator was invented by the British after WW2 for supersonic flight. It was so secret they sent one to the US for fear that the Russians might intercept blueprints. On a Piper? Good question!

This also applies to the Beech Musketeer models. They have a stabilator

Hey Dean. Just curious if the stabilator needs to be removed to replace the bolts?

Dean, went to look at your KZfaq channel and the Home page reports there isn’t any content! When looking at the Video page, it’s clear you have many...! Could someone have Hacked your KZfaq Channel Home page!

Two bolts. Bad engineering? This is ridiculous. I wouldn't use four bolts like that to hold a post vertical. I mean, 6.35mm bolts are weak. The tail should have more bolts at least, spreaded across different areas. No wonder why the tail is loosey goosey during those NASA flutter tests.