After 16 hours of flying, I could feel some drag in the ailerons during control inputs. I traced it to the rod end bearing on the bellcrank leading to the right aileron. I removed the bearing and could not rotate the ball with my fingers. Inserting a punch in the bolt hole, I rotated it and sprayed it with penetrant/lubricant. After a little working, it now rotates freely with light finger pressure- just about spins actually. Inspecting the ball, there are no scratches, just a little polishing around the circumference at the mid diameter (the equator, if you will) of the ball. There is no indication that there is a possibility of failure, but I suppose it could end up dragging again if lubrication was not a long term fix.
Question to those in the know is; should the rod end bearing be permanently lubricated, or is it a common practice to occasionally lubricate these? Is wheel bearing grease acceptable or should a white grease like lubriplate be used?
I'm pretty sure I know where the problem originated. Years back I had someone in my local chapter weld the threaded portion onto the tubing, since I didn't like the rivet idea on these critical push/pull tubes. They didn't remove the bearing and I think it cooked the provided lubricant. I'll be inspecting the 3 remaining bearings. Bit of a setback, but so far the only problem identified in the test program.
