Installing back seat rudder pedals in a flying aircraft

dkol · #1 08-05-2010, 12:13 AM

Looking for a 4 and have found a few I'm looking at closer but a couple don't have full controls in the back seat. Can anyone give me a rough estimate of cost for installing rudder pedals? thanks.

Snowflake · #2 08-05-2010, 02:58 PM

Temper this with the fact that I haven't built a -4. But on the ones i've seen, it looks like the back seat pedals are just foot pads on the ends of long rods that run up to the front seat pedals. That *seems* easy to retrofit, at least the installations i've seen. Cost? Two pieces of tubing roughly about 3' long, 1/2" dia, plus a couple of 2" circles welded on the ends, and finally whatever hardware joins them to the front pedals. Does that help?

The other option is to just clamp directly to the cables (or somehow tap into the cables) where they run down the side of the cockpit. I've seen some photos of really slick installations with retractable pedals, none of which looked particularly cheap.

asav8tor · #3 08-05-2010, 03:06 PM

Rear seat pedals in the 4 are really not needed. The airplane flys pretty good without rudder inputs and the thought of full controls for ground handling/takeoff/landing is n/a without rear seat brakes to go along with the rudders. You must be able to tap the brake to assist in directional control when the main gear is touching the ground. This becomes more pronounced as the CG shifts aft with someone in the back seat. Ground loop waiting to happen if you try to instruct from the back seat.

vfrazier · #4 08-05-2010, 09:55 PM

Putting rear seat rudder pedals in an RV-4 is a snap. Takes about 20 minutes max. with little, if any, modifications to the existing parts/airframe. Only a few holes to drill in the floorboards for pop rivets or screws.

http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/sto...roducts_id=325

These pedals, a Jim Winings idea, clamp to the rudder cables via a short chain and fold down flat on the floor when not needed. They are by far the simplest, lightest, and most useful of any rear seat rudder pedals I know of.

Sadly, they won't work in an RV-8 since those rudder cables are below the floor boards.

dkol · #5 08-11-2010, 10:29 AM

thanks for the feedback guys.

fehdxl · #6 08-11-2010, 11:11 AM

Van's sells a rear pedal kit too, not sure how much money, but for the first time installer, it's probably 25+/- hours by the time everything is said and done. If doing it the second time, probably only 10.

Also, don't forget about a rear throttle.

-Jim