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An update on my rear prop.....
So I had a last minute change of plans regarding how I was going to proceed with my rear prop while my rear engine was being overhauled. I mentioned in a previous post above that my plan was to send my rear prop to Tiffin Air in Tiffin, OH. I changed that last minute as Tiffin emailed me prior to picking up my prop a contract agreement that they asked me to sign that covered conditions about pricing for the pick up and delivery based on mileage as well as pricing about covering conditions about the overhaul, or what I would be responsible for in the event I chose not to overhaul after the inspection, etc. The contract was reasonable however it promptly brought back the nightmare of the experience I had with my front prop the previous year with Aircraft Propeller Service here in northern Illinois.
A short review is that that prop failed and it cost me $600 to find that out. Well, my front and rear props lived the exact same lives so I was loathed to paying at least that much again and possibly more to find out the rear prop was also junk, which I was figuring it was. I figured I can throw the prop in the garbage myself for free. Why pay someone to do that for me. Tiffin did offer me the lowest price I found for simply buying another brand new prop outright as I did for the front the previous year. I had made up my mind to not even bother with my old rear prop and I was just going to order a new rear prop.
The last minute change occurred because of TomM's post above and positive reference to H&S Propeller in White Lake, MI. I thought what the heck, let's just give them a call and see what they say. I had no expectation that it was going to change my mind when I called.
I accidentally called them at quitting time about 5:02pm eastern neglecting to consider the time difference between Chicago area (central) and White Lake, MI. As Bryan Mathews promptly answered my call, I had realized what I had just done. I offered immediately to Bryan to simply call back the next morning but he would not have any of that. He proceeded to spend about the next 20 minutes or so past quitting time answering not only my questions but he had many questions for me about what all happened with my front prop the previous year. Suffice it to say his customer service was by far the best and he just gave me a solid feeling that he wanted to help. Bottom line was that I explained to him that I was not interested in investing money to find out my old prop was junk. I understand it is labor but ugh, that just stinks.
Bryan told me after learning that corrosion doomed my front prop the previous year that he felt it was unlikely that would be the case with my rear. He obviously could not give me 100% on that but learning the history of my plane and how it lives, he felt any corrosion found could most likely be repaired as there are factory approved methods to deal with this that many shops just choose not to. H&S chooses to go the extra mile to save a prop if they can. Additionally, he told me if my prop failed and I bought the new prop through him, the inspection cost of the old prop would be waived provided I let them keep the old prop. His price quote for a new prop, though not quite as low as Tiffin, was within $250, so I decided $250 was worth the risk after Bryan convinced me that not looking at my old prop would likely be a mistake.
Well, as it turned out my prop passed and was overhauled. Bryan also felt it likely could pass one more overhaul barring any significant blade damage during this upcoming run. So yay! The price for the overhaul was less than $3300.00. I'll never know but I wish I would have known about H&S Propeller last year. It would be interesting to know how that would have turned out with my front prop.
To Tiffin's credit, Mike Baird there who I met last summer did credit me $1000.00 towards my account there for my old front prop indicating that in his judgement the blades were still serviceable in spite of Aircraft Propeller's opinion that they were not. Mike did say the hub was not serviceable however. Clearly there is subjectivity here when it comes to corrosion. I guess in a perfect world there would not be but obviously the world is not perfect. I realized my credit with Tiffin when they overhauled my governor.
Anyway, high marks to H&S as I highly recommend them. Thank you to Bryan Mathews for the advice and thank you to TomM for your post and positive reference. I hope to flying in about a month after my engine is returned.
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