Rod end bearings...p. 11-07 & p. 44-05
There is a new thread in General Discussion that raises the issue of rod end bolts not being correctly tight on the bearings so that the bearings do the work.
During an ACI in May, I found two places on the 12 where bolts supplied in the kit are slightly too long and when torqued bottom out on the threads before the bearing center is clamped and is actually working.
1. The AST pushrod end bearing AN3-10A bolt:
I found this to be true on my 12 and one other flying 12 that I checked.
2. The An3-14A bolt furnished with the auto pilot kit to attach the roll servo pushrod, note the amount of threads showing:
I emailed Van's about this one in May, so it may have been corrected since then. There was a drawing change in May, prior to my email, but does not address the issue. I have not checked this on another plane to verify, maybe someone building who has easy access to the roll autopilot pushrod could check and report.
On both of these I installed one additional washer to get the bolts to tighten on the bearings.
I should have posted about this earlier, sorry . The AST bolt is easy to check, the autopilot bolt, less easy but not too bad to get to.
Tony
There is a new thread in General Discussion that raises the issue of rod end bolts not being correctly tight on the bearings so that the bearings do the work.
During an ACI in May, I found two places on the 12 where bolts supplied in the kit are slightly too long and when torqued bottom out on the threads before the bearing center is clamped and is actually working.
1. The AST pushrod end bearing AN3-10A bolt:
I found this to be true on my 12 and one other flying 12 that I checked.
2. The An3-14A bolt furnished with the auto pilot kit to attach the roll servo pushrod, note the amount of threads showing:
I emailed Van's about this one in May, so it may have been corrected since then. There was a drawing change in May, prior to my email, but does not address the issue. I have not checked this on another plane to verify, maybe someone building who has easy access to the roll autopilot pushrod could check and report.
On both of these I installed one additional washer to get the bolts to tighten on the bearings.
I should have posted about this earlier, sorry . The AST bolt is easy to check, the autopilot bolt, less easy but not too bad to get to.
Tony
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