Elevator Control Mod

This solution to our control system quirks was passed along to me by fellow member Geoff Heap. He got it from somebody else; I'm not sure who came up with it originally or would give credit...but it's working well for me. Some said put it on the list for those who haven't seen it so here it is.

I was running my elevator cables way slack because of the well known characteristic of the off center elevator bellcrank tightening/loosening the cables and possibly restricting the right aileron travel. This mod has solved all that, and I'm running my cables taut now; elevator travel, effectiveness and feel are improved..and right aileron control is no longer restricted. I added a Uniball rodend to each end of the elevator push/pull tube to take care of the lateral movement in the system.  The bellcrank "bearing" was already elongated at 200 hours because of the binding, and there was wear marking in the push/pull tube apparatus. The plate that the elevator tower is mounted on needs to be rather stiff; if there's flex it will tend to bind on the torque tube rear bearing and cause stiffness. Not knowing just how highly loaded all this elevator control system is, I  reinforced the seat back and crossmember. The pic isn't the best, basically I cut the tower off the torque tube and welded it on a plate that put the pivot the same height above the tube as before. Pretty simple. I have about 40 hours on it and don't plan any changes.

Best

Joe

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Permalink Reply by Joe Spencer on March 3, 2011 at 9:38pm

Sorry for the sideways pic. I don't know how to rotate it. Also I see it went into the Open Forum for some reason. Mr Moderator can you move it to the 701 forum please.

Thanks

Joe

Permalink Reply by John Austin on May 11, 2018 at 2:03pm

The software permissions are inconsistent throughout the forums ... for some reason, this forum will not let me move things to the 701 forum!  Irritating!

Sorry,

John

Zenith.aero Forum Moderator

Permalink Reply by Gary Burdett on March 4, 2011 at 9:31am

Does use of left/right flaperon cause any noticeable pitch up due to slight distance change on the push -pull tube?

Gary Burdett

Permalink Reply by Joe Spencer on March 4, 2011 at 2:01pm
Nope, nothing like that. It flies fine, better than before in fact
Permalink Reply by Lowell V Cullison on May 11, 2018 at 8:49am

Joe,

I would really appreciate if you would give more detailed information or pictures on how you modified the torque tube to correct the right aileron binding.  I am stuck with this problem.

Thanks,

Lowell

Permalink Reply by david shrader on May 11, 2018 at 2:42pm

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