Finley Atherton
Well Known Member
I am presently doing a periodic inspection on my 9A and have found that at some time the right side rudder cable has snagged on the bolt that goes through the flap weldment actuator arm as evidenced by the slightly distorted cable in the photo below. Also the cable is slightly "polished" in this area indicating that it has rubbed along the bolt/nut.
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I was easily able to replicate this by hitching the cable over the nut/bolt and the cable would stay in place with the rudder pedals being moved.
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Firstly I'll admit I have contributed to this as I had installed the bolt in the opposite direction to the plans. The plans show the bolt head on the outboard side of the flap actuator arm and in this configuration it would be much less likely that the cable would snag on the thinner bolt head. I also used the smaller MS21042 nut rather than the AN365 nut specified in the plans but I can't see this being a contributing factor.
I suspect that many RVs would have the bolt direction wrong as it is impossible to install the bolt from the outboard side once the flap actuator weldment is installed in the fuselage (at least in my 9A). I have now installed the bolts in the correct direction. This involved disconnecting the flaps and undoing the three nylon mounting blocks so I was then able to move the weldment just enough to install the bolts.
I am not quite sure how the cable actually got distorted. I suspect that I lowered the flaps (on the ground) when the cable had snagged on the bolt and this took all the slack and slightly "bent" the cable. This could not have happened in the air as I would have noticed right rudder being applied and the aircraft yawing as the flaps were lowered.
Fin
9A
I was easily able to replicate this by hitching the cable over the nut/bolt and the cable would stay in place with the rudder pedals being moved.
Firstly I'll admit I have contributed to this as I had installed the bolt in the opposite direction to the plans. The plans show the bolt head on the outboard side of the flap actuator arm and in this configuration it would be much less likely that the cable would snag on the thinner bolt head. I also used the smaller MS21042 nut rather than the AN365 nut specified in the plans but I can't see this being a contributing factor.
I suspect that many RVs would have the bolt direction wrong as it is impossible to install the bolt from the outboard side once the flap actuator weldment is installed in the fuselage (at least in my 9A). I have now installed the bolts in the correct direction. This involved disconnecting the flaps and undoing the three nylon mounting blocks so I was then able to move the weldment just enough to install the bolts.
I am not quite sure how the cable actually got distorted. I suspect that I lowered the flaps (on the ground) when the cable had snagged on the bolt and this took all the slack and slightly "bent" the cable. This could not have happened in the air as I would have noticed right rudder being applied and the aircraft yawing as the flaps were lowered.
Fin
9A
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