A

apatti

Well Known Member
OK, I've searched the forums and looked at several websites and no one seems to have had any trouble installing the control sticks. Well, I have! :mad:

First, the AN4 bolt won't fit through the brass fitting. Am I supposed to drill that out? I didn't see this on the drawings or the instructions. Now, of course, I need a new brass fitting. :)

Second, the control stick/brass fitting will not fit on the control column. I have messed up a lot of the powder coating trying to make this happen. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to get out the bigger hammer?

Thanks,
 
You drill out the brass bushing then file or grind the bushing to fit the control arm. Remember, the stick pivots on bushing.
 
I had the same problems on my 9A. Drill out the inside of the bushing to 1/4" for the AN4 bolt. I don't remember the outside diameter of the bushing. Using a micrometer measure the diameter and using the same size drill bit clean out the inside of the control stick. According to Vans, when these parts are welded together, the weld can intrude into the tube the bushing slides into. When installing the bushing, it needs to be I believe 1/64" longer the the tube in the control stick. This way when you mount the stick to the control column, the column secures the bushing so the stick can pivot on it. You need to start by fitting the bushing to the column. It needs to fit snugly between the flanges, then make the adjustments to the stick.
 
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craigvince said:
I destroyed 2 of these bushings trying to "drill" them to fit. Buy a 1/4" reamer and it'll be perfect!
Click to expand...


Reamer and new bushings (including a couple of spares) are on order. The bushings ended up costing me $350! :eek: However, they'll come with a couple of antennas and some coax.


Thanks for the help!
 
On a related note - once you have the stick, bushing, etc. all installed properly in the weldment, is there anything you can do to minimize the amount of free play in the stick in the pitch axis? Mine has just a bit, but the long stick translates it into around 1/8" of lost motion at the top of the stick.

I know I'm not alone since I've seen other RV's that have this... come to think of it, my old 9A might have had the same thing. Maybe you just don't notice it in flight? Anyway, I'd still love to hear if there's a simple fix.

thanks,
mcb
 
It's in the bushing

mburch said:
On a related note - once you have the stick, bushing, etc. all installed properly in the weldment, is there anything you can do to minimize the amount of free play in the stick in the pitch axis? Mine has just a bit, but the long stick translates it into around 1/8" of lost motion at the top of the stick.
Click to expand...

I did it twice, too. The first time, the bolts rocked in the bushings and gave me about 1/8" of play. This is measured by holding one stick while pushing on the other.

I got it down to about 1/16" or less by buying another set of bushings and drilling them with a 1/4" drill bit, but very slowly and with lots of Boelube. I decided that was good enough. I spent a bit of time with the micrometer to make sure that the bolt and drill bit were close in size first, and they were within a thousandth or two.
 
Thanks Martin. I think my bolts should be pretty snug in the bushings (but still free to pivot!) since I used a well-lubricated reamer and went slow.

If I'd have searched properly before I posted my previous message, I would have found this:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=6067

The consensus seems to be that a little play is fine. I don't remember having an issue with it in-flight with my last RV, so maybe I will leave it alone!

cheers,
mcb
 
dan said:
Depends on who "you" is. At my last condition inspection I took out all of the stick play. This made a huge difference in precision in formation. YMMV!!!
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Yeah, I wasn't considering formation flying when I made my previous comment.

When I flew formation in the military, we would fly with everyone but lead out of trim so you were holding back pressure on the stick all the time. This takes all the play out of the controls.
 
mburch said:
How'd you do it, Dan? Longer bushing, or something else?

mcb
Click to expand...

First of all I made a new bushing with fresh brass. That took about 70% of the play out right there. The rest of the play was due to the stick being able to "slide" over the bushing. There was just enough of a gap that it allowed the tube in the stick base weldment to slide back and forth. I ended up narrowing down the stick base and just added washers in there to take up the slop. NO SLOP now.
 
Kevin Horton said:
...out of trim so you were holding back pressure on the stick all the time. This takes all the play out of the controls.
Click to expand...
Likewise. When flying wing I use a fair amount of nose down trim. That way the control is "one dimensional." A varied pull. I do the same on every landing...land with a fair amount of nose-down trim. But even with that setup, I still noticed the slop...and I noticed the lack of slop right away after taking it out.
 
OK, this thread has me totally confused now. It's been awhile since I installed the sticks and I can't remember if I had the stick rotating around the bushing, or the bushing rotating around the bolt.

As near as I can tell from the thread, the reason you don't want the bushing rotating around the bolt, is it creates too much play. Looking at it last night, I have no discernable play; if I do, it's negligible.

So is there any reason to pull it out and see how I had it set up?
 
Wear in use.

Bob Collins said:
OK, this thread has me totally confused now. It's been awhile since I installed the sticks and I can't remember if I had the stick rotating around the bushing, or the bushing rotating around the bolt.

As near as I can tell from the thread, the reason you don't want the bushing rotating around the bolt, is it creates too much play. Looking at it last night, I have no discernable play; if I do, it's negligible.

So is there any reason to pull it out and see how I had it set up?
Click to expand...

Bob... besides the play issue there is a wear issue...

You probably could set it up with a force fit for the brass tube, and have it rotate around the bolt.... but now you have a 1/4 inch bearing, versus a 3/8 bearing if you do it the way the plans specify (even if it's not specified clearly...:)...) with the stick tube rotating around the brass bushing.

The plans method will stay much longer with less play.... and also be easier to remove any (all?) play in the future, just like Dan described.

gil in Tucson
 
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