FAA Advisory Circular 43.13-1B
Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices
Aircraft Inspection and Repair
AC 43.13-1B | 7. Aircraft Hardware, Control Cables, and Turnbuckles | 8. Inspection and Repair of Control Cables and Turnbuckles | 7-147. Replacement of Cables
AC 43.13-1B
9/8/98
table 7-4, for a period of 3 minutes. Place a
suitable guard over the cable during the test to
prevent injury to personnel in the event of ca
ble failure.
7-147. REPLACEMENT OF CABLES.
Replace control cables when they become
worn, distorted, corroded, or otherwise dam
aged. If spare cables are not available, prepare
exact duplicates of the damaged cable. Use
materials of the same size and quality as the
original. Standard swaged cable terminals de
velop the full cable strength and may be sub
stituted for the original terminals wherever
practical. However, if facilities and supplies
are limited and immediate corrective action is
necessary, repairs may be made by using cable
bushings, eye splices, and the proper combina
tion of turnbuckles in place of the original in
stallation. (See figure 7-12(c).)
a. Location of Splices. Locate splices so
that no portion of the splice comes closer than
2 inches to any fair-lead or pulley. Locate
connections at points where jamming cannot
occur during any portion of the travel of either
the loaded cable or the slack cable in the de
flected position.
b. Cutting and Heating. Cut cables to
length by mechanical means. The use of a
torch, in any manner, is not permitted. Do not
subject wires and cables to excessive tem
perature. Soldering the bonding braid to the
control cable is not permitted.
c. Ball-and-Socket Type Terminals. Do
not use ball-and-socket type terminals or other
types for general replacement that do not posi
tively prevent cable untwisting, except where
they were utilized on the original installation
by the aircraft manufacturer.
d. Substitution of Cable. Substitution of
cable for hard or streamlined wires will not be
acceptable unless specifically approved by a
representative of the FAA.
7-148. MECHANICALLY-FABRI-
CATED CABLE ASSEMBLIES.
a. Swage-Type Terminals. Swage-type
terminals, manufactured in accordance with
AN, are suitable for use in civil aircraft up to,
and including, maximum cable loads. When
swaging tools are used, it is important that all
the manufacturers’ instructions, including “go
and no-go” dimensions, be followed in detail
to avoid defective and inferior swaging. Ob
servance of all instructions should result in a
terminal developing the full-rated strength of
the cable. Critical dimensions, both before and
after swaging, are shown in table 7-5.
(1) Terminals. When swaging terminals
onto cable ends, observe the following proce
dures.
(a) Cut the cable to the proper length
allowing for growth during swaging. Apply a
preservative compound to the cable ends be
fore insertion into the terminal barrel.
NOTE: Never solder cable ends to
prevent fraying, since the presence of
the solder will greatly increase the ten-
dency of the cable to pull out of the
terminal.
(b) Insert the cable into the terminal
approximately 1 inch, and bend toward the
terminal, then push the cable end entirely into
the terminal barrel. The bending action puts a
kink or bend in the cable end, and provides
enough friction to hold the terminal in place
until the swaging operation can be performed.
Bending also tends to separate the strands in
side the barrel, thereby reducing the strain on
them.
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Par 7-146