Rudder peddles too short?

The standard 701 rudder peddles are difficult to use without depressing the brakes as well. For me, I need to angle my feet so just my toes press on the peddle, which is uncomfortable, then if I need to hit the brakes quickly (such as short landing) it’s awkward. I had round stock welded to the front of the peddles, that helps, but not much.

I'm thinking about raising the whole peddle assembly a couple of inches, so I can get the horizontal peddle bar into the ball of my foot. Using either blocks or brackets. 
Has anyone seen anything like this done? Any suggestions or alternate ideas?

thanks,

Dennis M

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Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on February 10, 2022 at 12:22am

Dennis,

You could tilt the top of the pedals forward toward the firewall a bit by shortening the threaded rods that run from the pedals to the nose strut through the firewall. First  determine how much you can safely slacken (lengthen) the rudder cables by lengthening the adjustable barrel rod ends back at the rudder horn while maintaining the minimum thread engagement in the barrels. Otherwise you’d be looking at fabricating and installing longer rudder cables. If you do make any adjustments also double check you still have the minimum rudder deflections. Just a thought.

Permalink Reply by Dennis Mitchell on February 10, 2022 at 12:37am

Thanks, I did tilt them forward, that helps, but also puts the brakes at more of an angle and slightly harder to press. I got another EAA member to look at my idea today and I’m feeling pretty good about lifting the peddles using some aluminum square stock. I’ll start with one inch and see if that helps.

thanks,

Dennis M

Permalink Reply by James Ballenger on February 10, 2022 at 5:52am

Dennis

I had the same problem, so I made some 1/2" thick aluminum plates to attach to the rudder and brake pedals.  It solved all my problems. Now I can use the toe brake and rudder as you would in a Cessna.  I will try to find and attach a photo of my solution.

Jim

Permalink Reply by James Ballenger on February 10, 2022 at 8:07am

Dennis

Here are the photos.

Jim

Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Dennis Mitchell on February 10, 2022 at 9:50am

Very nice. Thanks for the shot from the back, helpful.

Dennis M

Permalink Reply by Arnie Minear on February 10, 2022 at 4:52pm

I thought mine were too short too, but now I am not sure.  I did some moving things around after running out to the airport and measuring a couple of cessnas.  The pedal heigth was anywhere from 5.5 to 7" but the toe brake was offset back towards the firewall by 1 to 1.5".   So I moved the hinge pivot from the top of the pedal to the back side and added a non-slip aluminum piece.

I think it is going to work fine now.  I had posted my thought that my pedals were too short also this morning on the facebook Zenith Builders page.

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