Vans plans call for nylon friction nuts on the flight control hardware, however all the production aircraft I have flown use castellated nuts on the flight controls. Should I follow the plans religiously?
Van's control system uses rod end bearings and the nuts are to be torqued down on them. Nyloc nuts work fine in this instance. If the controls are to be hinged on the bolt, i.e. the bolt is subject to turn, then a drilled bolt and castle nut is required. An example is the rudder cables. They are not torqued, so castle nuts are required.
you can get self locking, castleated locknuts. and drilled bolts if you like. they are a bit pricey. some "upgrade" to this. nothing wrong with the vans method...i did go with the secondary locking device on the flight controls.
YMMV
Van's control system uses rod end bearings and the nuts are to be torqued down on them. Nyloc nuts work fine in this instance. If the controls are to be hinged on the bolt, i.e. the bolt is subject to turn, then a drilled bolt and castle nut is required. An example is the rudder cables. They are not torqued, so castle nuts are required.
Quick question. I was sent AN4-32 bolts in my kit instead of AN-4-32A'a. These are the bolts that go through the brass bushing that is part of the aileron bell crank. I called Van's and they said I could use the drilled bolts but then I started thinking is this allowed with the regular lock nuts called for in the plans for do I need to get some castled nuts and cotter pins? Thanks for the help.
I'd use castle nuts and cotter pins here. The bushing could rotate on the bolt and cause it to loosen. It's different when you clamp up tight to the inner moving element of a rod end or other bearing. In that case there is no possibility of relative movement between the bolt and the bearing - unless the bearing seizes.
