It's been fifteen years since I installed the rudder pedals in the Doll. Over the years they have become increasingly difficult to reposition forward and aft. I knew that I needed to remove them for some R&R, but in my mind I was dreading the required process! Like most maintenance, thinking about the task was much worse than actually doing the work. I was surprised that I had them removed, disassembled, and in the parts washer in about an hour!
During inspection, I noticed that both rudder pedals had worn where the bolt attaches them to the master cylinder. In fact, the hole in the pedals had elongated vertically the width of the #3 attachment bolts! At first I thought I'd weld up the holes, and re-drill them. Then I remembered that Paul Grimstad had walked up to me at Air Venture 2013 with a very nice RV-8 Pedal in his hand. He had crafted them and laser etched them. They looked first class and at the time I thought about picking up a pair from him after Oshkosh and installing them at the next conditional. Well, out of sight for me is out of mind and I completely forgot about them until I sat there staring at the elongated bolt holes in the OEM pedals.
Back at home, I did a Google search and found Paul's business: Control Approach. I gave him a call and he sent me a pair of his beautiful pedals to install in the Doll. I painted the rest of the assembly black to match Paul's pedals and installed a two inch wide strip of stainless steel tape on the floor for the nylon blocks to slide on. The end result is a great looking setup that glides smoothly forward and aft to any position.
If you want to upgrade your pedals, I highly recommend Paul Grimstad's products at Control Approach! I'm a happy camper!
Rudder Pedal Redo
Linear Mode
