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RV-10 Aileron Bearing Question

J

jwilbur

Well Known Member
I sent this email to Van's support about a week ago, but got no response. I'm 99% sure this is nothing to be concerned about, but figured I'd just pass along the question to this group and see if someone can give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that all is good. Maybe someone who has not yet installed their aileron bearings might be able to give a little check for me. I'd appreciate it.

Here's the email I sent to Van's:

I had an EAA tech councilor inspect my progress. He noticed that all four aileron bearings have ?lateral play.? If you hold the bearing with a finger on either side, you can ?wiggle? it back and forth (the tech counselor estimates about 20/1000?s of movement). Note the ?play? is in the bearing itself, not between the bearing?s flange and the bracket. In other words, if I take a bearing as provided in the kit, before installed, I think the play exists between the bearing and its flange. I can?t prove this because all the bearings I got in the kit are installed. Can you verify whether or not this ?play? is normal? The (poor) picture below shows the bearing as installed.

http://airplane.athomeinthewilburness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/IMG-20120114-00043.jpg

Thanks for any help,
 
jwilbur said:
I had an EAA tech councilor inspect my progress. He noticed that all four aileron bearings have ?lateral play.? If you hold the bearing with a finger on either side, you can ?wiggle? it back and forth (the tech counselor estimates about 20/1000?s of movement). Note the ?play? is in the bearing itself, not between the bearing?s flange and the bracket. In other words, if I take a bearing as provided in the kit, before installed, I think the play exists between the bearing and its flange. I can?t prove this because all the bearings I got in the kit are installed. Can you verify whether or not this ?play? is normal? The (poor) picture below shows the bearing as installed.
Click to expand...

With the way the bearings work, I can't fathom how your tech conselor can determie it's got 20/1000" of play with his fingers.

Personally, if you have washers installed to fill the gap and make things tight, I wouldn't worry about it. Like Ken Scott would say, just build on.

bob
 
Spherical bearings will normally have some axial (side play) in them but should have close to '0' radial (fore/aft) play, I'm sure Aurora can give you a spec as I could not find a specific number in their technical info for allowable axial tolerance.
 
Walt said:
Spherical bearings will normally have some axial (side play) in them but should have close to '0' radial (fore/aft) play.
Click to expand...

This is consistent with what I've got. I don't know either how my tech guy got 20 thousandths. To be fair he wanted to measure it but I didn't have calipers. He just made a guess that it might be that much. I Should have been clearer in the email.

Thanks for the comments. If anyone else has those bearings still uninstalled and can just double check that there is some lateral (axial) play I'd appreciate it.
 
Last edited:
Walt said:
Spherical bearings will normally have some axial (side play) in them but should have close to '0' radial (fore/aft) play, I'm sure Aurora can give you a spec as I could not find a specific number in their technical info for allowable axial tolerance.
Click to expand...

If they are spherical, then the "ball" portion can sit any way in the "frame" - I would expect the axial and radial play to be essenially equal.

0.020 play sounds like a loose sphere to me...:confused:
 
az_gila said:
If they are spherical, then the "ball" portion can sit any way in the "frame" - I would expect the axial and radial play to be essenially equal.

0.020 play sounds like a loose sphere to me...:confused:
Click to expand...

Hey Gil. Been just over a year since you took me flying. I had just finished the VS at that time. ...

Anyway, the "radial" and "Axial" dimesions being discussed are with respect to the housing / flange of the bearing, not the bearing itself. This behavior is exactly what I see. If I pinch the spherical bearing between my fingers (one finger on each side of the bracket shown in my picture) I can wiggle the sphere axially, but not radially. The 0.020" I wish I never mentioned. I don't know what it is. We weren't able to measure it. That was just an order of magnitude WAG. I should have said simply that it's detectable play and my tech counselor wasn't sure if it was normal.

All four bearings have more-or-less the same "play."
 
jwilbur said:
Hey Gil. Been just over a year since you took me flying. I had just finished the VS at that time. ...

Anyway, the "radial" and "Axial" dimesions being discussed are with respect to the housing / flange of the bearing, not the bearing itself. This behavior is exactly what I see. If I pinch the spherical bearing between my fingers (one finger on each side of the bracket shown in my picture) I can wiggle the sphere axially, but not radially. The 0.020" I wish I never mentioned. I don't know what it is. We weren't able to measure it. That was just an order of magnitude WAG. I should have said simply that it's detectable play and my tech counselor wasn't sure if it was normal.

All four bearings have more-or-less the same "play."
Click to expand...

What part number does van call out for the RV-10?
 
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