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601 XL Elevator Balance Bungee
N601LL is 100 hours now and only remaining item was needing some up elevator trim for level flight and not enough up trim for a proper flaps down engine out glide. The incidence of both wing and stab were good but as it does take quite some force to lift the elevator I decided to try a simple fix. I put an eye hook on stab, drilled a hole in elevator horn and installed s-hook there. Then connecting the two using #64 rubber bands discovered that nine was a good balance.
Test flight successful. Flies level at cruise with zero trim and flies hands off approach with full flaps, full up trim and throttle idle.
Comment
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Comment by Sam Ibrahim on May 18, 2024 at 7:34pm
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Hi Joe, I am considering using a tension gas spring instead of the rubber bands. Any thought on that.
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Comment by Joe Hopwood on December 6, 2020 at 9:04pm
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As below comment says. All is well and the hook on stab was installed via rivnut installed in stab on the spar. The actual goal was reducing the requirement for up trim in flight and having enough up trim with flaps down to allow plane to glide and proper rate of descent. To achieve this I used rubber bands to counter balance the weight of the elevator which does leave it in neutral position on the ground with engine off.
Joe in LA :-)
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Comment by joseph aloof on December 6, 2020 at 4:06pm
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hi joe happy holidays.hows the update with the rubber bands?i was wondering how did you fasten the front eye? and when the rubber bands are in is the goal to have the elevator in neutral position when aircraft is on ground engine off? joe in fl
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Doing cond insp and I replaced the rubber bands with freshly purchased ones. So far all is well. Will add yearly replacement to cond insp checklist.
The hook on stab was installed via a rivnut installed in stab on the spar.
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Comment by Bob Pustell on July 14, 2020 at 7:32pm
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simple and elegant. Update us in a few weeks or a month when you have more operting experience with it.
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