The OEM 340 tail cone was made of ABS plastic which, over the years, has became very brittle and even more difficult to repair. Avfab’s STC approved fiberglass Cessna 340 Tail Cone Stinger is built to provide customers with a robust and economical replacement option.

Our tail cone also incorporates two inspection panels in the lower portion of the ventral fin, thereby eliminating the need for removal at each inspection.

Replaces 5393001-1, 5312032-3, & 5331001-29

Contact Chuck Koch for questions or a no hassle quote...
chuck@avfab.com or 660.885.8317

I had to install one the other day that looked just like that, so I assume it was that brand. It was the biggest pain in the ass that I've seen. There is no physical way to install it without scratching it. It took two of us to install and still took us over 30 minutes to get it in place. The previous shop obviously also had problems with it as it had touchup paint all over it.

I will say that it is very well built.

Jason,

Did you pull the left elevator to install it? Trying to remove or install one of those without damage ( scratches ) is almost impossible unless you do. Even if you split the elevator…

The Avfab replacement is nice but very expensive. I’m sure they have a lot of money invested in tooling and certification, however.


Jeff,

Why did you decide not to split the tailcone like Cessna did for late production models?

Why would you want to pull an elevator to R&R this? It has to be removed at an annual/100 hour inspection. It would be a bigger PITA the remove an elevator just to remove this.

Why would you want to pull an elevator to R&R this? It has to be removed at an annual/100 hour inspection. It would be a bigger PITA the remove an elevator just to remove this.

In our case, I didn't do the inspection and I don't remember what was under the cover. I walked by it 200 times, I just didn't pay attention until we went to install the cover. I believe you would have a difficult time seeing the rudder bellcrank assembly, but again I didn't pay much attention to the placement of the small inspection panels. I pulled one off to double check something but only noticed the elevator fittings visible in the access panel.

In our case, we had to remove it to install LED strobe lights.

They are a very nice, well built tailcone, just a PITA the install. If I have to remove an elevator to remove an inspection cover, no matter how easy is it, something was designed wrong.

If I'm in that hangar this week I'll take a look in the inspection panel.

We put on the AvFab tailcone on my plane this year. We did not see a way to install without removing the elevator, and that is what AvFab told us to do when I asked. We removed the right side elevator only. The fit was a bit tricky, requiring quite a bit of trimming. Glad I chose to add an LED tail strobe at the same time, so we shouldn't need to pull it again.

Was this because the previous tailcone was damaged, or because there are advantages to the new one?

Was this because the previous tailcone was damaged, or because there are advantages to the new one?

AvFab did not do the initial design and approval for this part, it was purchased or inherited from another company. I don't think a 2 part answer would have been particularly compatible with the construction technique on this part. There are some internal "bulkheads" which you can see on the end view that would have had to have been split, along with another set of screws & nutplates added. As it is, it is the same weight as the original.

AvFab did not do the initial design and approval for this part, it was purchased or inherited from another company. I don't think a 2 part answer would have been particularly compatible with the construction technique on this part. There are some internal "bulkheads" which you can see on the end view that would have had to have been split, along with another set of screws & nutplates added. As it is, it is the same weight as the original.

FYI on materials. the ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,) that is used on lots of original equipment parts is very good tough stuff the first 10 years you own it. but as it ages it get brittle. So replacing it with fiberglass, especially if it uses the right resin, (one of the epoxy's) makes a much tougher longer lasting part.

Un fortunately "Plastic" comes in a huge number of varieties and Cheap and easy to manufacture is usually not the toughest, strongest, part. what exact material it is and what manufacturer and grade makes a huge difference., there are plastics out there that are stronger and tougher than most metals but they aren't cheap

As an example, I have an old ABS canoe that was incredibly tough hitting rocks etc on the rapids the first 10 years. now it is strictly a flat water canoe as any time I get near a rock it cracks. it is easy to fix by using ABS pipe glue from the hardware store and a strip of new ABS from McMaster but it looks ugly and takes a little care to get a good repair.

I hope my comments didn't come across as too negative. I really appreciate that companies like AvFab choose to support our 40+ year old airplanes with PMA parts. If you need a new tailcone, the AvFab is a much better choice than a plastic part from Cessna, or a questionable part from salvage with its own fit issues.

I grabbed a couple pictures at the hangar today to illustrate the minor things we ran across during installation. First, the big picture, tailcone mounted. It attaches along the front edge and the inspection ports discussed above are on either side, below the horizontal stabilizer.


Could have used a little bit more length for my plane. Angling it up slightly to close the vertical gap would have pulled it away from the front mounting locations, and you really need some space to avoid rubbing against the rudder. As the rudder moves to the stops, the forward edge can get close to the tailcone (an issue with my previous factory cone).


The flat surface where the strobe mounts is just slightly canted to port, maybe 1 or 2 degrees, if you can even see it in the picture. Really need to be looking closely to even tell.


This is the top left 3 mounting screws on my plane (no issue on this side).


On the top right side, could have used some more material. Shop glued or riveted an extension to reach that last screw.

Another AvFab 42-0322 Cessna 340 tail cone installed.