Poor fitting rear stabilizer attachment

[dactel]

Back on my build again. I was trying to attach the horizontal stabilizer and found that the one of the holes where the bolt goes through was off by 1/16” or so. I tried to make it fit by brut force but I found it impossible. I am thinking that the only way to solve this issue is to relocate the hole by grinding off the existing washer-looking thing that’s defining the hole, filing the hole on the pivot mount bigger, and tack on a new washer at the proper location.

Before I do that, I wanted to ask you all if you can think of any other way.

Thanks in advance.

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[Denalifox]

The bracket is thin enough to put a punch in there to tweak it just enough to fit. I actually had to clearance the bracket a hair because the horizontal tube contacted it.

[dactel]

Thanks, Denaifox. I tried tweeking it by inserting a hex wrench in the holes and trying to twist it using a pipe for a leverage but the mounting bracket would not budge. You can see from the picture below that the bracket was not jigged straight when it was welded onto the frame or it got warped during the welding process...

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An alternate way of aligning the holes might be to grinding off some metal from the inboard of stabilizer sliding block bracket so that the bushing can be lined up by yawing the stabilizer further a little more. Of course the downside would be that this would result in the entire horizontal tail feather beings slightly cricket....

I have to sleep on this....

[aviator79]

If the bracket wasn't jigged straight, just relocating the washer might not totally fix the problem. Have you tried calling Kitfox? I know you can't exactly send it back to be re-welded, but I imagine they can advise you on the best path forward.

[dactel]

If the bracket wasn't jigged straight, just relocating the washer might not totally fix the problem. Have you tried calling Kitfox? I know you can't exactly send it back to be re-welded, but I imagine they can advise you on the best path forward.

Thanks, Brian. I’ve just sent an email to John. I will post what solution he comes up with.