Our Experience with 'The Airbox Doc' for Replacement Carb Airbox butterfly valve

scottrsellers · Post by **scottrsellers** » Sun Sep 28, 2025 5:29 pm

It is our belief that most or nearly all of the R/TR182 fleet is need of airbox repairs. As part of our search for airbox parts or overhaul options we recently contacted Joe Rogg(623-262-1617) who is listed on Barnstormers as 'The Airbox Doc'. We spoke to Joe and texted him the below pics of the original poor condition butterfly valve in the airbox we acquired from BAS parts and asked for a cost estimate.
Joe requested requested we send him the old butterfly and he'd make a copy and send an invoice for our approval, however he would not give an estimate prior(we asked for an estimate). Joe went on to explain he's USAF retired and is not getting rich from this work and is reasonable, so we sent him the old butterfly.
A couple weeks later we received the replacement butterfly with orange membrane seen below and were pleased with the part, however we were rather taken aback(others agreed) at the $525 price tag. There's less than $30 in materials and it took us a few hours to make one that is similar to what we received from Joe Rogg - and I'm not a skilled fabricator.
So we called Joe and explained we thought most club members would find his $525 price too high, and offered him $250 which seems generous, otherwise we'd just send him his part back. Joe agreed to the $250 price but said it took him all day to make the part and that he'd not make any more butterflies for $250, and he has plenty of work. He suggested new butterflies from Textron were $1800, however we checked that and they don't list a price but I'll bet Joe's likely fairly close. See https://ww2.txtav.com/Parts/PartSearch/ ... /2250001-1 for that. So it looks like Joe Rogg is a good source just be prepared with your checkbook - for Airbox repairs he may be the only game in town. We acquired a complete replacement airbox(with poor condition butterfly) with butterfly shaft & bushings in excellent condition from BAS parts for $750. See viewtopic.php?t=222