Elevator pushrod F689 question

[JanRV6UK]

Elevator pushrod F689 looks to be a tight fit to get in place ? Is the general way to get the that one in place to feed it in from the back ? Removing both Heim Bearing to make it as short as possible ? and then ?bend? it ... to get it in place ? No way that I can feed it straight in ? Unless I am missing something obvious ! (I do not like the idea of bending a tube that works in compression ....)

One idea I have is to put a feed hole in bulkhead F607 ? almost at the centreline joint ? Then I think it will just fit in ? with a slight push to one side ... I have not cut the tube to final size. My experience with cutting to final size as per drawing does not always work out very well ! I like to work from oversize ... trimming to fit ...

What have others done ??

 

[ChiefPilot]

It is a tight fit, for sure. The rod flexes a bit and you can use that to your advantage. I found that removing the bell crank and feeding the pushrod in from the rear worked well also if you don't have the aft top skin in place.

 

[RVRC]

Same problem two days ago

I am building a 7 but just had the same issue. I had to remove the rod end bearing from both ends and feed it from the rear. Did not have to bend. YMMV.

 

[GLPalinkas]

Don't bend it. I agree, it's a tight fit.

Like was stated earlier, take the fittings off. I cut mine very close to the size in the manual (IIRC) but I agree those are not always accurate numbers. Measure twice, cut once.

You can enlarge the hole on the rear main bulkhead (forgot the number) because you will probably have to anyway for a smooth control operation. I had to take a little off the bottom of the hole to have the push rod clear when going full forward and aft after installation.

 

[JanRV6UK]

Thanks for your comments – I have the fuselage in the jig and are just about to start rivet all the skins on. I want to make sure I can get the pushrod in place after having all the skins on – in case it has to be removed later on.

The drawing show the rod to be 47 ½ long – As written in on the drawing I would say that is raw material length + the bearing and rod end inserts (but with the old RV6 drawings you can not be to sure !). I have to double check in the morning what the length is from the Bellcrank to the bottom of the stick assembly – From what I can see it looks to me as if the Bellcrank should be vertical (90deg to the longeron – as I have the fuselage in the jig. With the stick in the neutral position

 

[WenEng]

Leave off the forward bearing threaded mount too.

It just gets pop riveted on after you drill it through so get it ready then remove it while you install the pushrod. Clecoe it back on until you are ready to pop rivet the thing in place. Makes it much easier to install and remove without bending. You more than likely will have some interference inside the bulkhead opening after installation,when moving the connected rod through its full range of motion and while you can file that interference away with the pushrod in place, it's easy to unclecoe, remove and replace.

 

[JanRV6UK]

Thanks for the suggestions !