Removing rudder pedals?

[Tram]

Seems like 9 out of 10 of my threads here start out like this - "we bought our RV flying and..."

Well, here's another one. It recently came time for new interior, so I ordered some up with the intentions of painting the interior a dark gray like the cockpits at work. I just like it. Looks right to me.

So, I'm going to be going from tan/khaki to dark gray. I don't have too many issues overall - clean, mask, spray. Save for the rudder pedals that is. I'd like to be able to pull them and paint them "right" without just shooting them while they sit in the airplane.

Having not built the bird - are these designed to be removed? I need to crawl in and see if the builder followed the plans..

 

[Kyle Boatright]

Unbolt the brake cylinders from the brake pedals, unhook the rudder pedal links, and shove all that stuff aside.

Unbolt all (6?) bolts holding the UHMW block which, in turn, hold the rudder pedals. Remove the center block and set it aside.

Now for the fun part...

Slide the rudder pedals (with side blocks attached) as far aft as you can. You'll probably have to work around the fresh air vents, but it can be done. Get them all the way to where they hit the first bulkhead aft of where the pedals mount. This provides working room in the width direction so you can...

Ease the entire assembly all the way to one side and remove the UHMW block from the other side. Now ease the assembly to the other side and remove the opposing UHMW block.

Now you can twist, turn, and wiggle the rudder pedal assembly out for further disassembly and paint.

Reverse the process to reinstall.

While you've got the pedals out, make sure there are little finger gussets welded at the intersection where the rudder pedals are welded to the torque tube. The gussets are on the back of the assembly. That was a factory required modification that was deemed necessary in late 2000 or thereabouts because of rudder pedal failures which led to bent airplanes. If yours doesn't have the tabs, call Van's. They will sell you a new set of rudder pedals or will send you the tabs and you can weld 'em on.

 

[Mel]

You don't say when your aircraft was built and I can't find an RV-6 registered to you on the FAA website.
If your aircraft was one of the early built, it may have the floor mounted pedals. Removal of these is a little more difficult.
However, if you have these and are going to remove them, this would be a good time to upgrade to the the newer "hanging" pedals.

 

[Tram]

Thanks guys..

We have a 1996 model. It has the hanging pedals but I need to check for the gussets.

 

[L.Adamson]

Thanks guys..

We have a 1996 model. It has the hanging pedals but I need to check for the gussets.

Mine is a 1996 kit (finished much later) and the pedals required the gussets to be welded on. In my case, the airvent inlets (don't remember the scientific name) were on top of the bolts. I put a piece of metal between the fuselage side & the bolt, then cut them off with a die grinder. At least two of the bolts were replaced upside down.

I think it's kind of a pain to do this.............unless it actually needs the gussets, which is a must. I'd just take the pedals themselves off, and paint.

The service bulletin:

http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/sb99-06-1.pdf

L.Adamson --- RV6A

 

[Tram]

Well, we have no gussets, I guess the pedals are coming pit one way or another.

 

[PCHunt]

It's a "nasty" job, but certainly not impossible. I removed the rudder pedal bars from a flying RV-6A, did the gusset SB, and added right-side brakes.

If you are adding brakes, or are not happy with the existing ones, I HIGHLY recommend Grove master cylinders with the adjustable-length rods. It makes setting the brake pedal tilt easy.

I also slightly modified the Delrin blocks to reduce the friction for rudder movement.

 

[Snowflake]

Note that the gussets should go on the aft side of the pedals that attach directly to the rudder cables, and to the forward side of the pedals that don't connect to the cables. This places the gussets on the side of the tubes that are in compression, that's the side that fails.

I bought my -6 used as well, it had no gussets, and on the import inspection we found hairline cracks on the compression sides of the right pedal. None on the left. We installed gussets on all pedals, repainted the entire weldment, and re-installed. This is a good time to clean up wiring or engine control routing that passes over, under, or around the pedal weldments too... We had a heck of a time finding the right combination of positions to get the pedals out due to the control cables running under them.

 

[gasman]

Note that the gussets should go on the aft side of the pedals that attach directly to the rudder cables, and to the forward side of the pedals that don't connect to the cables. This places the gussets on the side of the tubes that are in compression, that's the side that fails.

I find this statement to be correct. But not consistent with Van's instructions.

Looking at my 2 RV6A's, I find that the gussets are welded all on the firewall side............
So then I went here...... http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/sb99-06-1.pdf to see how Van's wanted them done.

Due to the fact that the plane is flown from the left seat 90% of the time, the right pedal is the only one that will fail. There is no load on the left pedal top weldment from the left seat.

 

[Snowflake]

Gasman, that is correct, Van only says to put the gussets on the forward side of the tubes. I believe that was an aesthetic choice, not one based on good engineering practice. It also doesn't match with my experience, where the cracks actually appeared on the pedals. It's possible that reinforcing the tension side may make the joint "strong enough." since you can't really see the tops of the tubes anyway during normal use, it's not really an issue.

As for only doing one side, that's your call... I figured that with the pedals out anyway, the small additional amount of work to do both sides was good insurance for the future.