750 Elevator to Hor Stabilizer Center bolt

It seems to me, that rather than have a AN365 elastic nut, on a crucial control connection with tons of movement over it's lifetime, in the direction of the bolts threads, that it would be far better to have a drilled An3-5 bolt, with a A310 castle nut with cotter pin, and appropriate washers. That area has a ton of movement everytime the control stick is touched. And with the recent NTSB bulletin on elastic nuts, it seems like having a nut like a castle but, or one with safety wire, would prevent the movement of the two pieces from backing off the nut.

Thoughts? It's a cheap and easy change, and I guess I don't understand the elastic nut on a moving control surface. I am almost done with plane, and built the prices almost 9 months ago, but I have wondered about it since the day it went on.

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on January 9, 2014 at 7:49pm

Chris,

I worried about a similar use of elastic stop nuts on the flaperon hinges. What I was told is that because bushings are being used, this allows you to tighten/torque the stop nut. The nut is then not against a rotating part, instead, the other part rotates on the bushing. Just like the elevator, the flaperons are in constant motion and my flaperon hinge nuts have never loosened in 200 hrs. However, I think it wouldn't be overkill to put a dab of torque seal on the bolt and nut for reassurance when doing the preflight!

John

Permalink Reply by Bob Pustell on January 10, 2014 at 9:24pm

John hit the nail on the head -- when the nut is clamped down hard onto a bushing inside the joint, there is no rotational stress at all on the bolt/nut -- they are stationary objects that happen to have a part rotating about them but nothing in the bolted joint moves at all. I like his idea of torque marker paint just to be sure, but Chris Heinz knows what he is doing.....

I am not building a 750 so I have no plans to look at, but believe you are talking about a clamped bushing type situation. If you are talking about a part that rotates on the actual bolt shaft, we would be having a different discussion.

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