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Adjustable rudder pedals?

L

lernez

Member
Hey, All,
Forgive me if this has been asked: Is there a thread or other website regarding adjustable rudder pedals for an RV-6A. So far, I can't find anything here or on Van's site.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Steve Lerner
[email protected]
 
Move pedal mounts

The RV-6A rudder pedals can be mounted in several 'positions' determined by the builder. I think that mine were drilled at about 1 1/2" increments but they're bolted down in the most forward position. At 6'2" my legs insisted on on it that way. (That increment is determined by the spacing between the UHM blocks that secure the pedal controls.) The next aft hole becomes the next forward hole, and so on.

If someone else with shorter legs buys the plane someday, he can move them to another 'hole' and re-rig the cables and links to set the angle and distance properly.

Suppose you could call this 'ground adjustable' with great difficulty. Not a casual seat slide adjustment or anything convenient though.
 
adjustable rudder pedals

Oops,
I forgot to mention that the pedals on this plane are too close. Most of my height is in my legs: with a very thin seat back cushion, the pedals are too close and my knees are very cramped.

Steve Lerner
[email protected]
 
Independently adjustable rudder pedals

This is one modification that I'm surprised no one has come up with. When I was mounting the pedals in my 7 I thought about installing adjustable rudder pedals similar to the ones on the later model Kitfox's. I decided to keep it simple and stick with the stock set up. The beauty of Van's design is its simplicity but it sure would be nice to be able to adjust them independently from side to side.
 
Steve,

Since it appears that you are talking about modifying a flying airplane, it will be much harder (but still possible) to move the mounting blocks for the rudder pedals. One option might be to lengthen the steel linkages that connect the cables to the pedals (by making new ones longer than the stock size.) This will have the effect of moving the lower portion of the pedals further forward. Depending on how your airplane is set up, this could mess with the geometry of the brake pedals and make it difficult to get your feet on the brakes, but then again, it might give you a good inch or so without hurting anything, brake wise. It's impossible to know without looking at your setup, but it would be an easy mod and something to consider.
 
EZ

Get a long 3/16 bit for your angle drill. Unbolt the rudder cable linkages and the rudder bar mounting block, removing the bolts from the mounting blocks. Move entire assembly forward so your leg room is where you want it. Drill new holes using the current holes in the mounting blocks as a guided. Rebolt mounting blocks. Build new longer linkage assemblies. Assemble & attach. Make sure to leave them loose, hence the castle nuts.

Buy and attach rudder pedal extensions to keep you from dragging your brakes while you taxi.


Now you have a plane that fits. :)


Hans
 
Lets see what Cessna does

The new Cessna 162 has fixed seats and movable rudder peddles. This is the first side by side that I know of that has movable peddles engineered into the design. We should be able to look at these this year. I would love movable peddles, my wife and I are short but my friend that I fly with is 6'2".
 
I have been thinking about having adjustable pedals (I'm 6'4" and my wife is 5'5"). The weight penalty is my main concern, but it might be worth it. Having both the left and right pedals adjust in unison would not be an impossible task at all. However, Ideally I would like to be able to adjust the left and right independantly which would be very problematic, complex, and heavy.
 
Bold emphasis is mine. Check the 6A plans. The 7A plans call for a minimum of 3" between the firewall and the delrin block. Too close to the fw will limit your pedal travel (and maybe the rudder travel:eek:).

Dave


nucleus said:
Get a long 3/16 bit for your angle drill. Unbolt the rudder cable linkages and the rudder bar mounting block, removing the bolts from the mounting blocks. Move entire assembly forward so your leg room is where you want it. Drill new holes using the current holes in the mounting blocks as a guided. Rebolt mounting blocks. Build new longer linkage assemblies. Assemble & attach. Make sure to leave them loose, hence the castle nuts.

Buy and attach rudder pedal extensions to keep you from dragging your brakes while you taxi.


Now you have a plane that fits. :)


Hans
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