Rudder Pedals And Brake Pedals Questions

[mfleming]

Originally Posted by BillL

Since you brought up engineering - look at the moment applied to the short bolts. That shear force and resulting moment rotates the bolts in the sloppy holes and will cause them to bind. Use the long bolts and you won't back here later lamenting about poor pad life and overheating/dragging brakes...... (Validation)

So its not like I didn't believe everybody but I just couldn't visualize what the long bolt did that the two short bolts didn't do.

I went out to the rudder/brake assembly and tightened the castle nut to what I thought they would be in service (not to tight). Sure enough, when I applied enough force on the pedal I could see how the shear force tried to rotate the bolt and it was was levered out of the proper plane, setting up a possible binding action.

Soooo...I was wrong, the collective was right...just don't tell my wife I said that

Van's cost estimator takes another hit

[jibby212]

I found a bag of new an3-56 bolts on ebay, 27 bolts for 30 dollars shipped. Check ebay and give some to your buddies, anyone near Sarasota can stop by and get a free set from me. I like the single axle setup.

[mfleming]

Originally Posted by jibby212

I found a bag of new an3-56 bolts on ebay, 27 bolts for 30 dollars shipped. Check ebay and give some to your buddies, anyone near Sarasota can stop by and get a free set from me. I like the single axle setup.

I can't find them???

[gasman]

Originally Posted by mfleming

What's a good tilt? ¾" or so?

I sat in mine with the bolts snug and string tied to each pedal, pushed on them and pulled the string till I found the perfect fit..... then I drilled for the master.

As far as bolts, look at a longer bolt from ACS that can be cut down.... longer seems to be cheaper.

[longranger]

Originally Posted by mfleming

I confirmed with Van's that the powder coat is left on and the center bearing blocks are installed exactly as you describe.

That has changed since I received my fuselage kit in April of 2012.

http://mykitlog.com/users/display_lo...189934&row=158 (bottom photo)

[JonJay]

Originally Posted by longranger

That has changed since I received my fuselage kit in April of 2012.

http://mykitlog.com/users/display_lo...189934&row=158 (bottom photo)

Interesting. My early kit rudder bar was completely powder coated, including the ends, which I had to strip the paint to fit the bearing block.

I have posted before about the Matco spring "issue". They are more than adequate. If they are not returning, your pedals are binding. This needs to be fixed or you might suffer excess wear on the binding surfaces, bolts, whatever. Putting a bigger spring over the shaft just masks the root problem.

The cylinder geometry isn't how Matco engineers want to see the product installed. Vans design introduces a side load. I have spoken to Matco and they are well aware of how Vans set up is. It simply means over time the shafts will wear and the seals will leak. For mine, it was around 700 hours. It was a pretty easy rebuild back to new with readily available rebuild kit, but no reason these wouldn't las much longer if the shaft wasn't side loaded as a result of the design.

[mfleming]

Originally Posted by longranger

That has changed since I received my fuselage kit in April of 2012.

http://mykitlog.com/users/display_lo...189934&row=158 (bottom photo)

I was suppressed at the answer. The help tech Eric seemed confident that was how to do it (leave the powder coat on) and even mentioned the powder coat would wear of over time.

[mfleming]

Originally Posted by JonJay

Interesting. My early kit rudder bar was completely powder coated, including the ends, which I had to strip the paint to fit the bearing block.

I have posted before about the Matco spring "issue". They are more than adequate. If they are not returning, your pedals are binding. This needs to be fixed or you might suffer excess wear on the binding surfaces, bolts, whatever. Putting a bigger spring over the shaft just masks the root problem.

The cylinder geometry isn't how Matco engineers want to see the product installed. Vans design introduces a side load. I have spoken to Matco and they are well aware of how Vans set up is. It simply means over time the shafts will wear and the seals will leak. For mine, it was around 700 hours. It was a pretty easy rebuild back to new with readily available rebuild kit, but no reason these wouldn't las much longer if the shaft wasn't side loaded as a result of the design.

Even after Van's said leave the powder coat on, I'm inclined to strip the coating off.
Do you remember how you stripped the powder coat off?

Besides ensuring that there is no binding in the pedals, was there anything to be done about the side load on the Matco master cylinder?

[mfleming]

Received the long bolts...Whats the consensus for leaving out the thin washers between the pedal and the weldment if it make the brake pedal a little stiff?

[wirejock]

I had to use a mix of thick, thin and no washers to get them perfectly smooth.