What's new
Van's Air Force

The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!

Hone rudder pedal tubes

J

JDA_BTR

Well Known Member
Patron
I’m putting the WD-804-L/R rudder pedals on the outboard ends of the WD-816 rudder slide. There is too much friction. I’m to hone the rudder pedals. What is an efficient way to do that? I’m thinking a few hours with a red pad will be no fun.
 
Get some coarse and medium emery cloth. Slot a 3/8 tube or even 3/8 bar stock. Cut the emery in small pieces to go in the slot and wrap around the tube. Chuck in drill motor and [polish away.
 
I used a strip of 400 and oil. Once they were smooth, I polished them on the buffing wheel with compound. Same for the flap weldment. I found the tension was caused by torquing the block nuts to spec. Ultimately, I used MS17826 Castle stop nuts and cotter pins to get the block/weldment tension perfect.
 
wirejock said:
I used a strip of 400 and oil. Once they were smooth, I polished them on the buffing wheel with compound. Same for the flap weldment. I found the tension was caused by torquing the block nuts to spec. Ultimately, I used MS17826 Castle stop nuts and cotter pins to get the block/weldment tension perfect.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to fit the left one with the emery polisher on the end of a tube. Good idea! The left one is really killing me. Look at the pic. Can get in the tube from the right but the offending high spot is all the way to the left deformed by the left weld I think. I’ve polished and polished and it just kills me. I don’t have a burr that long. Can’t get into it from the left side. I’ll figure something out and just keep after it but it’s been a misery.

Part of the fun was after polishing it and getting it to slide onto the bar, it siezed at the high spot. I probably had the work heated from the sanding when I fit it, then it cooled on the bar and siezed. I could not in any way free it. So I fashioned a come-along with the work in the vise and pulled on it hard with the ratchet tie down and wiggling and cursing. I also let the whole assembly sit outside in the cold for an hour then heated this piece. Sheesh I’m tired. image.jpg
 
120 grip paper wrapped around a red pad strip had gotten it done. But I’m leaving next steps for another day and will check it again when I’m not so tired. Who knew I’d have to rig a come along on an EAA workbench!
 
Totally different from 7. Sorry. Not much help.
I have a few hones made from brass tube. I cut a slit. Slip a piece of emery or sand paper and wind the rest. Add a few drops of oil. Chuck in a drill.
 
JDA_BTR said:
It is 7/8 inch ID
Click to expand...
Just get the cheapest and smallest 3-legged hone you can find and use that in an electric drill. If it won't quite fit in the cross-tubes, take a bit off each of the hone's stones with a coarse file.
fuselage_2024-02-26_01.png
This worked well for me.
 
Thanks Dan, good picture. That tube fit great out of the box. For me it was the two rudder pedal tubes. I think I finally got the job done with the sandpaper. I would have willingly bought a hone if I'd known what to get!

One example that seems okay, but the min size is 7/8 so maybe I need one a bit smaller:
3-legged hone

And this one is a little smaller, so probably better.
Smaller 3-legged hone

Posting this up so the next person can save a lot of time for a little bit of money!
 
The smaller one looks close to what I used. It's also useful for deburring holes in things like control columns and some pushrods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top