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Thread: Rudder pedal friction

  1. #1
    Administrator RandyL's Avatar
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    Default Rudder pedal friction

    Quote Originally Posted by Jorge&Cindy View Post
    The rudder pedals!! Cleaning out the welds and getting the tubes to rotate freely, wore me out!
    Jorge,

    What steps did you take to get the rudder pedals to move freely? Coincidentally that's what I'm working on now. This weekend I plan to take a brake cylinder hone and ream out all tubes that ride on the plastic bushings to reduce friction. I'm still struggling with what the best lubricant to use is though. Anyone have any recommendations?
    Randy Lervold
    TeamKitfox.com Admin Emeritus
    Day job: www.dynonavionics.com

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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    randy, if you use a brakecyl hone like i started to it will clean the tubes up and get rid of the powder coat but if you use it to clean out the weld i think you may end up making the other side of the tube too thin. i think its only 035 tubing. use a dremel on the welds first. the real problem is that the tubes are slightly bent from the welding. i ended up heating mine and straightening them first. they then went together like a hot knife thru butter. kf had suggested i might need to sand part of the bushing thinner but i didnt like that approach. also if you sand the powder coat down, the bushings go on without splitting them like the manual says to. after hours of work mine would not go together until i straightened the tubes. anything will lube the brake hone.

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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    For the welds deep inside the tubes, I have a friend who loaned me an extension for a grinding stone. I mounted it to my drill press and that allowed me to reach the welds inside. As for the bushings, I had to "work" them down a bit. I used fine sand paper and a Scotchbrite pad. I would assemble everything moving the tubes around and around. I would take it apart and used the pad to wipe down the bushing till it looked clean(they would come out a little dark after turning the tubes). I kept doing this and little by little the would rotate freely. Just be careful forcing them in. My left side pedals got suck and it took a lot of effort and ruining one bushing to get them apart. You do need to get the powder coat out of the tube, just don't make them too thin. I used LPS 2 to lube all the innards. I also took almost all the powder coat off the inner tube so the it would not rub the outer. My outer tube was also slightly bent, but It managed to work out. I have both sides mounted and it's like butter.

    On a side note: Randy, looking at your build site, your pedals are in, or am I missing something?


    Last edited by Jorge&Cindy; 10-31-2008 at 02:30 PM.

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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    Quote Originally Posted by RandyL View Post
    Jorge,

    What steps did you take to get the rudder pedals to move freely? Coincidentally that's what I'm working on now. This weekend I plan to take a brake cylinder hone and ream out all tubes that ride on the plastic bushings to reduce friction. I'm still struggling with what the best lubricant to use is though. Anyone have any recommendations?
    Make sure that you have the pedals moving freely not only on the bench, but also after they are installed in the cockpit. When I did mine, I got them working freely on my work bench, but once I torqued the torque tube fittings in place they started binding- so out they came for a redo. This step is extremely important,because any friction in the rudder pedal system will cause you grief once you start flying the finished product. Refer to the previous discussions on rudder trim. If the rudder is deflected even a small amount due to system friction your airplane will be uncoordinated after each rudder pedal deflection because the rudder will not recenter. Bruce N199CL

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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    Hey Bruce, you too?
    I think when you torque the screws down on top the plywood floor, the brackets must be flexing out of alignment. My were fine on the bench and had to come out for a little more work the first time I mounted them.

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    Administrator RandyL's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    Hey guys, I moved this discussion of rudder pedal friction to its own thread so it can be found in the future. There's some good info here and I don't want it to get lost.

    Cheers,
    Randy Lervold
    TeamKitfox.com Admin Emeritus
    Day job: www.dynonavionics.com

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    Administrator RandyL's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    Quote Originally Posted by Jorge&Cindy View Post
    Randy, looking at your build site, your pedals are in, or am I missing something?
    The previous owner installed them but I didn't like the considerable friction so I took 'em apart and started over. I needed to cut off the horns to convert them to adjustable style and drill lightening holes in the pedals themselves anyway. This required me to get all the parts re-powercoated. All the parts were gray, they will now be white with the pedals black.

    So I guess the lube of choice would be LP2 for all control connections including these plastic bushings against the steel tubes?
    Randy Lervold
    TeamKitfox.com Admin Emeritus
    Day job: www.dynonavionics.com

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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    the plastic bushings are the same as the flaperon bushings i think. in the wing section of the manual there is a caution against certain lubricants with aromatic components. i had used some rotella grease on one side before i saw this. emailed john and he said that it was ok but that his preference in this spot was white grease. which i used on the other side. both sides have a very smooth action with the white grease side a hair smoother.

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    Smile Re: Rudder pedal friction

    Nice to know I'm not the only one having this problem with friction. Thought I was going nuts trying to free up the pedals. Finally put them in a press and un-sprung them. Have not hard mounted them yet so may have more work to do. I used a long round file to clean out the welding slag on the inside and also removed all powdercoat. I used lithium grease on mine. Great minds think alike.

    Dick B

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    Senior Member Dorsal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Rudder pedal friction

    For what it's worth I had to shim my outboard bracket to get it to remain square after I torqued it down.

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