pierre smith

pierre smith

Well Known Member
Mornin' all,
It's annual time for the -6A and I'm going to install a Trutrak. A friend says that Trutrak shows the aileron servo mounted in the outer bay, under the pilot side floorskins.

He says that it's more convenient to fab a pushrod and mount the servo on the last rib of the wing.

What say you guys?

Thanks,
 
My Blue Mountain servo is mounted under the seat ribs; the pushrod runs right to left across the cockpit (long run to minimize deflection as the stick moves fore/aft). I could have used a more direct setup in the wing if I hadn't already built them, but I didn't want to get into the hassle of retrofitting a servo into the middle where the bellcrank is. But that's not much help for your question. It was a pain mounting the servo under the seat ribs (my pans are riveted, not screwed) but I felt it would be even more difficult to get it into the wing - there's not much room to work there unless you remove the wing. If I was building a -7 instead of a -6, I would have been tempted to put it in the wing.
 
I preferred the wing & pushrod method, as that's what I did. Mine's the Trio with the servo mounted on the outside of the last rib in the tip, but the servo in the last bay is a great way to do it. I once tried to locate it by the inspection panel, but it was much to difficult in a finished 6's wing. Note: I also have a plexiglass pushrod guide in the next to the last rib, in case the pushrod ever becomes disconnected for some reason.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
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Pierre Mine is mounted as described by Tru Trak - under the pilots floor boards. I recently had to remove the cable plug to switch the wires. It was impossible to get to the connector screws and I ended up having to cut an access panel. A major PITA.

I suggest the right wing tip, mounted as shown by Sam Buchannon. Not only would it be easy access, but the weight far out in the right wing would help offset the constant weight of the left sitting pilot.
 
It depends on how often you pull a wing-tip?

pierre smith said:
He says that it's more convenient to fab a pushrod and mount the servo on the last rib of the wing.
Click to expand...

I pull out my floor pans once a year for condition inspection. My wing-tips are riveted on and haven't been off in almost 16 years. Nothing in there to inspect.
 
We have nutplates

.....Mel, and little tork screws, so it shouldn't be a big deal to remove a wingtip. This is it's third annual/condition inspection and we haven't had any reason to remove wingtips either.

Thanks,
 
Under the floor

Hi Pierre,

I mounted mine is the fuselage. Very simple install. I did make a plate that I installed on the bottom of the fuselage for reinforcement. If a need to remove the servo came to pass, it would be easy to remove.

Short push rod, shorter wiring run and quick installation. Can't beat that.
 
Pierre (and others),

Having installed the Dynon AP this past summer in my -9 (It installs just like the TT), I was surprised to find that the installation is completly different from the -6.

Is there any chance you can install the -6 roll servo similar to either the -9 or -7? It was very easy to do and didn't require riveting any type of braces up in the wing and was very easy to do from the wing inspection panel.

Pierre, one minor piece of advice for you; I found running the wire out the wing a real PITA and I even installed Van's conduit when I built up my wing. That alone would move me towards the under floor location for your roll servo.
 
Servo location

I put mine in the right wing at the inspection plate as it was easier to install and to inspect. Now if you can just the wire to it!!
Randy Utsey
RV-7 / 155 hrs
N55CU
Charlotte, N.C.
 
Pierre, For retrofitting a flying -6, the floorboards are you only real option. Unlike the other RV's with a pile of inspection holes, the singular wing inspection hole combined with difficult access to the bellcrank just make putting it in the fuse a lot easier. I'm not a fan of a long pushrod going all the way from the wingup to the bellcrank, and I'd surely rather have that 2 lbs under my seat than hanging off a wingtip.

Put it in the floor as suggested and be done with it! Been there done that.

My 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein

BTW, for you -7/8/9/10 builders, the 3/4/6 bellcrank setup is entirely and completely different....retrofitting into a flying 7 in the wing is quite easy compared to a -6....wings are a LOT different.
 
SteinAir said:
I'm not a fan of a long pushrod going all the way from the wingup to the bellcrank, and I'd surely rather have that 2 lbs under my seat than hanging off a wingtip.
Click to expand...

Actually, I crammed any extras into the right wing, by design, that I could. It really helps to balance...me... when flying alone. And in most cases, my right seated passenger will be lighter than me.....too.

L.Adamson
 
Late to this thread Pierre, but when we installed the Tru-trak in the -6 (Mikey), we did it under the floor to keep the wiring simple....took about an hour, since the floor was out.

Paul
 
Ironflight said:
Late to this thread Pierre, but when we installed the Tru-trak in the -6 (Mikey), we did it under the floor to keep the wiring simple....took about an hour, since the floor was out.

Paul
Click to expand...

Paul, Do you have a picture? Did it fit without cutting anything? How long was the push rod? .......... that's all...........thanks...........:)
 
gasman said:
Paul, Do you have a picture? Did it fit without cutting anything? How long was the push rod? .......... that's all...........thanks...........:)
Click to expand...

I'd have to look for pictures - we did it per the Tru Trak drawing, and I think the kit even supplied the pushrod (I don't recall fab'ing one).

Paul
 
Lets not Assume.

Mel said:
I pull out my floor pans once a year for condition inspection. My wing-tips are riveted on and haven't been off in almost 16 years. Nothing in there to inspect.
Click to expand...

You are correct concerning, tweakage, dings, and skin rivets.

What about critter pee?

I was the DOM at an airframe repair station.

We pulled a Mooney in that the other shops had been doing the inspections on.

When we had it all opened up the owner said "why are you taking the interior side panels off, the other inspector said that you could tell if there was damage on the fuselage sides by looking on the outside"

He may have been right about the side panels, but they had neglected to account for that 2 inches of spar that could not be seen without pulling the side interior out of.

Oops, we found something when we looked where others thought un-necessary. We saw a corroded spar strap(in the hidden area) running from the center all the way into the tank. We managed to replace it without pulling the wing assy. But it was no small task.

Mel, I have been reading your posts for several years now. You do seem to be one of the RV go to guys.

Your expertise and opinions are respected by myself and others.(and still is)

My hope is your hanger is clean and vermin free.

That is good.

Some folks are relegated to tie downs or parking in the grass.

In Aviation if you do not look at it, does not mean that it is automatically ok.

Thats the impression I want to leave with VAF readers.

BTW, my servo will be under the floorpan.
 
Servo in Right Wing on -9

Here's a photo of our Blue Mountain servo installed in the right wing by the inspection plate. The servo can be removed through the inspection access, and it could be retro-fitted in the same place with the skin on, albeit a lot more difficult.
This installation requires a pair of braces riveted to the top skin.

By USCANAM
Operation in flight is very smooth, and off-balance weight is kept to a minimum
Hope this helps
Jack
RV9A
71.3 hours
 
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Point well taken....

....Tom, however, now that you mention it, we have mice in the hangar as well, even with the doors closed.

Last year I fetched a pair of rubber boots to walk in some muck and I had draped them over an engine stand. They were half full of dog food:rolleyes:

Thanks,
 
Good Point.

GAHco said:
Oops, we found something when we looked where others thought un-necessary. We saw a corroded spar strap(in the hidden area) running from the center all the way into the tank. We managed to replace it without pulling the wing assy. But it was no small task.
My hope is your hanger is clean and vermin free.

In Aviation if you do not look at it, does not mean that it is automatically ok.

Thats the impression I want to leave with VAF readers.
Click to expand...

Tom,
I appreciate your concern and you are correct that things can happen that you might not expect. I did fail to mention that my landing lights are installed in such a way that I can and do inspect the outer wing interior through these.
As far as your inspection of the Mooney, I would never consider not pulling the interior panels. These aircraft have a history of problems caused by moisture laden insulation.
Thanks for pointing out that everything needs to be inspected.
 
Thats better!

Mel said:
Tom,
I appreciate your concern and you are correct that things can happen that you might not expect. I did fail to mention that my landing lights are installed in such a way that I can and do inspect the outer wing interior through these.
As far as your inspection of the Mooney, I would never consider not pulling the interior panels. These aircraft have a history of problems caused by moisture laden insulation.
Thanks for pointing out that everything needs to be inspected.
Click to expand...

Thanks for "the rest of the story" :)
 
Any -6/6A Trio servo floor pan installation pics?

I'm working on the servo installation for the Trio EZ-Pilot in my -6A (flying Phase I) and have been planning for wingtip installation after deciding during build that the servo wouldn't fit under the floor pans.

I've seen some comments in this thread that under the seats is a workable, and for some the preferred, install location and I'd love to put mine there instead of the wingtip, but I pulled my seat pans off today to see if I missed something the first time I tried....and the servo doesn't physically fit in between the seat ribs in my plane. At least not in the orientation needed and with the screw tabs not cut off the servo housing.

If I cut the screw tabs off the servo base, I might, maybe, be able to wedge the servo in there where it would need to be; but the wingtip installation seems to be my only workable option. I may be missing something here so am interested in seeing how others have done it in a -6 or -6A (I realize the other models are a little different and I've seen pictures of those installations, but never seen a picture of working Trio servo installation in this location for a -6/6A).

I don't doubt it has been done, and I probably got my floor rib spacing off just enough that I can't make it work, but I'm curious to see how it fit for those that made it work.
 
Chris,
I e-mailed you pictures of an under the seat pan install of a NavAid servo. It is similar to the Trio.
 
Trio wingtip servo installation

Thought I'd follow up my earlier post in this thread with what I ended up doing. The Trio servo didn't fit under the seat pan of my flying -6A unless I was willing to do some significant (to me) surgery to at least one of the seat ribs, so I put the servo in the left wingtip as I had already wired it.

More pictures and description posted at:

http://rv6aproject.ckhand.com/finishingStages/TrioRollServoInstall/TrioEZ-PilotServoInstallPg1.htm

Wingtip view:

TrioEZ-PilotServoInstall001.JPG
 
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