Viking Steel bungee with UL Power 350 series engine

When I built my 650, I installed the Viking steel bungee suspension.  The ground handling seems to be ok but in flight the rudder will not return to center.  I have adjusted the side straps and center rod every way I can think of but nothing seems to make the rudder stiffness any better.  The threads on the side straps are about 6mm from the top of the nuts.  The center rod has some tension on it.  I did not grind down my bottom block because I did not think that was needed.   Has anyone had this problem and if you did how did you solve it?  Thanks.

Views: 439

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jan Eggenfellner on September 8, 2020 at 9:11am

Hey Larry, 

The side rods have nothing to do with anything in-flight. To increase friction in flight you have to back off on the center rod for the strut to have more force into the v-block. If you want less friction add a spacer to the center rod then reinstall the nut, in order to be able to tighten it further to loosen friction. 

Feel free to call or send pictures we can help you out!. -Alissa

Permalink Reply by Larry Ward on September 12, 2020 at 5:45pm

I have hopefully attached 3 pictures of my steel bungee for you to observe.  The top part of each side rod is 6mm from the top of the nuts.  The center rod nut was tightened down just to where it was actually compressing the spring or taking some tension off the side rods.  These pictures were taken with the nose wheel off the ground and you can see the cross piece on the bottom centering bearing is firmly seated the the v groove.  I was thinking that the cross piece would raise up a small amount off of the bearing when the nose wheel was raised off of the ground.  In the air, when I push on the rudder pedal and then take my foot off the pedal the rudder stays in that position until I push on the other pedal to bring it back to center.  It does this at all air speeds.  You can see in the picture that I have used a number of washers to be able to get the nuts on the side rod threads.   So should I add more washers and tighten down on the center rod or just tighten down more on the center rod as is with the side rods set as is?  Thanks for taking time to help me get this set up correctly.   I appreciate your assistance.  

Attachments:

RSS

New from Zenith:

Zenith Planes For Sale 
  

Classified listing for buying or selling your Zenith building or flying related stuff...

Custom Instrument Panels
for your Zenith:

Custom instrument panels are now available directly from Zenith Aircraft Company exclusively for Zenith builders and owners. Pre-cut panel, Dynon and Garmin avionics, and more.

Zenith Homecoming Tee:

Zenair Floats

Flying On Your Own Wings:
 A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design, by Chris Heintz

Builder & Pilot Supplies:

Aircraft Insurance:

 
 

West Coast USA:

 
Pro Builder Assistance:

 

Transition training:

Lavion Aero

K&S Aviation Services

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty for all your building and pilot supplies!

How to videos from HomebuiltHELP.com

Developed specifically for Zenith builders (by a builder) these videos on DVD are a great help in building your own kit plane by providing practical hands-on construction information. Visit HomebuiltHelp.com for the latest DVD titles.

© 2024   Created by Zenith.Aero.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service