Rudder pedal reinforcement KF-5?

[DesertFox4]

A friend just had this happen on his model 5 while on short final. Got his Kitfox stopped with no damage. He has a flying buddy with a model 5 and had the same thing happen to his rudder pedal recently.

66D7D0B7-ACEB-4938-9943-2A5396B7ADE6.jpeg

[Cosmofly]

Anyone has a picture of a reinforced pedal with gusset?

[alexM]

I just went and looked at my pedal assemblies and they do not have the gussets. Then I looked in the KF7 manual and they are shown in most of the diagrams. Lousy picture shown here.
IMG_20200502_130844.jpg
I looked in the service bulletin section of my KF5 manual but there is nothing on this issue. If anyone has a copy of the SB, or at least the recommended change (sheet metal thickness, size, etc) it would be greatly appreciated. It's going to a a little tricky dancing around the rivets that are already installed.

[Cosmofly]

Thanks... I am currently stripping a model IV, for a rebuild project. Maybe something I should consider...

[SilverFox5]

Hi Bruce, thanks for posting the pictures. I like the idea. I think we will do something similar except i will try to get a couple rivets in the horizontal torque tube along with the 2216 adhesive. I will post pictures of mine when I get it done. But might be a while before we get to that project. Am concentrating on getting the Wings 100% complete and ready for Oratex so we can get them stored out of our way. Our kit did not have the fast build wings so we have a lotnhours invested. Only need to finish fitting the wing tips and epoxy on and fit the light standoffs. Picture attached with wings attached.

Joe

[alexM]

This is what my rudder torque tube assemblies look like. When I looked at the manual diagram it looked like I have extra rivets, but when I read the rivet call-out it clearly states 2 on top, 3 each side and 4 on the bottom.
A little tricky to weld around. I'll be fabricating the stainless strap and replacing some of these with appropriate length replacements for sure.
IMG_20200503_154807.jpg

[Kitfox Pilot]

A friend just had this happen on his model 5 while on short final. Got his Kitfox stopped with no damage. He has a flying buddy with a model 5 and had the same thing happen to his rudder pedal recently.

66D7D0B7-ACEB-4938-9943-2A5396B7ADE6.jpeg

That could have been a bad day.

[airlina]

OK , here was my fix done in 2003 without removing the rudder pedal torque tube assembly. Made up 4 stainless steel straps that were bent to the same tube size as the rudder torque tube, then riveted and bonded with a bunch of 3M scotch weld , which was the our old Hysol with a vintage kit from skystar. I really laid the scotchweld on thick with proper prep of both surfaces (the tube and stainless) to form an adhesive gusset effect.

[alexM]

That is exactly what is shown in SB38. I compared it to my KF5 pedal assemblies and saw where I would have to account for one pop rivet directly in the way and dance around one more (I don't see those rivets on your pedals above). I thought about it later and it would make more sense for me to drill those two rivets out and then use longer ones that go through the strap (along with hysol).

[jrevens]

OK , here was my fix done in 2003 without removing the rudder pedal torque tube assembly. Made up 4 stainless steel straps that were bent to the same tube size as the rudder torque tube, then riveted and bonded with a bunch of 3M scotch weld , which was the our old Hysol with a vintage kit from skystar. I really laid the scotchweld on thick with proper prep of both surfaces (the tube and stainless) to form an adhesive gusset effect.

In my opinion that's a very good alternative, Bruce. The design probably adds more than adequate strength, although I haven't tried to calculate that for sure. There is a lot of contact area and the shear strength is quite good - ScotchWeld 2216 is a very good structural epoxy and, again in my opinion, superior in some ways to the 9460 used currently. The only disadvantages to using it are a higher price and a little less convenient mixing ratio, since it isn't 1 to 1 like the Hysol.