brian
Well Known Member
I've owned my -6A for 2 1/2 years now, and am the 4th owner. It's been flying since 1995. In all that time, and in all those preflight inspections and annual condition inspections by lots of professionals, no one seems to have noticed what I found when I preflighted my plane for a flight yesterday.
What I discovered is that the rudder does not hit either the left or right rudder stops when activated from the rudder pedals (as opposed to activated by hand during a preflight). It's the old style rudder pedals mounted on the floor. The rudder travel is limited only by the top part of the rudder pedal (the top part of the sideways "H") hitting the top of the brake master cylinder.
The left rudder comes within about 1/16" or so of hitting the rudder stop. Not right, but not a huge problem. The really hairy thing was that I observed that the right rudder only has about half of the travel as the left rudder, and doesn't even come close to the rudder stop - maybe 1" from hitting.
I realize I can easily fix this by just shortening up the control links between the rudder pedals and the rudder cables. I wonder if the builder or a previous owner was quite tall and decided to lengthen the leg room by lengthening the control links and thus moving the tops of the pedals forward.
But now we get to the really weird part I don't understand. The left link needs to be a bit shorter. The right link needs to be a lot shorter. But the left rudder pedal link is already much longer than the right one. On the right one, it appears someone drilled a second hole to move the attachment a bit further forward. So, after the rigging is adjusted to give proper full travel to the stops, this difference in length between left and right will be even more exaggerated. I may even have to eliminate the right link entirely to get the pedal back enough to get full right rudder travel. It appears to me that both left and right rudder pedal sets are mounted at the same point fore/aft. Unless one cable is longer than the other one, I don't understand how this can be.
So, some questions for those with experience in older -6As with the pedals mounted to the floor:
Why does it appear that one cable is longer than the other? Did they come that way? Both ends of the right rudder cable appear to be in normal condition, and don't look at all like either might be pulling out of the swaged end.
Is this difference in control link lengths normal and why?
Is there a set length these control links are supposed to be?
Here are pics of the left and right rudder pedal configurations:
LEFT SIDE - see how much longer the control link already is than the right side
RIGHT SIDE - at the top of the master cylinder, you can see where the rudder pedal has been hitting it as a "rudder stop"
I'd appreciate any insight other older -6A owners/builders can share on this.
On another note, I see that pilot's left brake master cylinder has some seepage at the top. Are these master cylinders rebuildable, or should I get a new one (presumably from Van's)?
What I discovered is that the rudder does not hit either the left or right rudder stops when activated from the rudder pedals (as opposed to activated by hand during a preflight). It's the old style rudder pedals mounted on the floor. The rudder travel is limited only by the top part of the rudder pedal (the top part of the sideways "H") hitting the top of the brake master cylinder.
The left rudder comes within about 1/16" or so of hitting the rudder stop. Not right, but not a huge problem. The really hairy thing was that I observed that the right rudder only has about half of the travel as the left rudder, and doesn't even come close to the rudder stop - maybe 1" from hitting.
I realize I can easily fix this by just shortening up the control links between the rudder pedals and the rudder cables. I wonder if the builder or a previous owner was quite tall and decided to lengthen the leg room by lengthening the control links and thus moving the tops of the pedals forward.
But now we get to the really weird part I don't understand. The left link needs to be a bit shorter. The right link needs to be a lot shorter. But the left rudder pedal link is already much longer than the right one. On the right one, it appears someone drilled a second hole to move the attachment a bit further forward. So, after the rigging is adjusted to give proper full travel to the stops, this difference in length between left and right will be even more exaggerated. I may even have to eliminate the right link entirely to get the pedal back enough to get full right rudder travel. It appears to me that both left and right rudder pedal sets are mounted at the same point fore/aft. Unless one cable is longer than the other one, I don't understand how this can be.
So, some questions for those with experience in older -6As with the pedals mounted to the floor:
Why does it appear that one cable is longer than the other? Did they come that way? Both ends of the right rudder cable appear to be in normal condition, and don't look at all like either might be pulling out of the swaged end.
Is this difference in control link lengths normal and why?
Is there a set length these control links are supposed to be?
Here are pics of the left and right rudder pedal configurations:
LEFT SIDE - see how much longer the control link already is than the right side
RIGHT SIDE - at the top of the master cylinder, you can see where the rudder pedal has been hitting it as a "rudder stop"
I'd appreciate any insight other older -6A owners/builders can share on this.
On another note, I see that pilot's left brake master cylinder has some seepage at the top. Are these master cylinders rebuildable, or should I get a new one (presumably from Van's)?