Hi Bruce;
I apologize for taking so long to respond. Demons in the ether, I’m guessing.
I haven’t talked to anyone at Piper about this but I can assume that a diligent mechanic found cracks at the weld where the two tubes meet.
It’s not too hard to imagine that that joint could be stressed–tense situations in flight ops often cause pilots to become unaware of the force they’re applying to a part or the control wheel.
The SB does not allow a local repair of this steel tube assembly, although it seems like that would be a reasonable, and affordable solution.
And, I typed one of the part numbers into my favorite search engine and got NADA! Nothing, so I can’t really speculate on how much it’s going to cost.
The FAA may permit what’s called an alternate method of compliance (AMOC) which would include a weld and reinforcement fix, but so far I don’t know of one.
This SB is very similar to Piper SB 1242, issued in 2020 that calls for inspections of the junction of the rudder pedal and bar assembly for cracks. SB 1242 applies to all PA 28s, PA 32s, PA 34s and PA 44s.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Steve
