Cost of parts
Do the maths, perhaps Cessna sell 500 a year?
Have them engineered, manufactured, heat treated, cad plated, passified, NDT inspected, certified, obtain a PMA and then throw in some product liability and get an approval to distribute parts. I reckon you could make them for $700 each at a push. We are not talking a run of 5,000,000 automotive spring u bolts here. Sadly there are not as many 172's as Toyota Camrys and people tend to not realise the economy of scale as we are used to purchasing mass produced high volume items.
I seriously doubt you could do the paperwork for $50 a bolt.
While you are at it I am sure you could also manufacture Tiger Moth Tie Rods as there will be a great market for them and I am sure the last manufacturer was making a killing ....
Sorry too many times I have been through the "I can make that for $5 argument" whilst supplying the part at cost +5% or less and then having to wait 90 days to get paid for it ....
PS. I vaguely recall perhaps Univair producing a PMA alternative.
Last edited by edsbar; 26th Mar 2014 at 07:38.
Reason: PS