Ailerons Rigging (8)

8 hours

This was a bit of a process!   Some of it was self induced though I guess,  Anyway I connected the inboard ends of the aileron pushrods to the stick and set about getting everything adjusted.  I started by adjusting the long pushrods until the aileron neutral positions matched the flaps.  That was actually pretty easy, but I ran into three issues.  First, the rod end bearings would run out of swivel travel with the stick all the way back, so the ailerons couldn't be moved with the elevator all the way up.  Next, the stick still ran into the hole in the seat pan before the ailerons ran out of travel.  Finally, the autopilot roll servo pushrod interfered with the long aileron pushrod and one of the seat ribs in certain positions.

To solve the rod end bearing interference, I first tried holding the long pushrod in certain positions as I tightened the jam nuts, hoping to not waste any travel.  That didn't really work, so eventually I went home and made some dished washers like I did for the elevator, and installed them at the outboard bell crank.

The washers helped, and then I tightened the outboard jam nuts first and the inboard ones second, making sure the pushrods were rotated all the way aft with the stick forward.  That made enough room for the rod end bearings to swivel as the stick was pulled aft so they wouldn't bind at either end anymore.

Next, since the stick ran into the seat pan before anything else, I thought there must have been something else wrong.  I decided to recheck the adjustment of the short pushrods.  To do that, you set the ailerons to neutral, and then check that the outboard edge of the bell crank is at a 25 degree angle to the wing rib next to it.  I started by clamping the ailerons to the flaps so they'd be held in the right place.

I made a little 25 degree gauge out of scrap.

To adjust the short pushrods, first I had to loosen the jam nuts, which were inside the wing with the ailerons installed.  I found that I could disconnect both ends, turn the pushrod on an angle, and then I could just barely get at the jam nut from the outside.

Finally I could use my gauge.  I ended up shortening the left one two turns, and leaving the right one as it was.

Then I had to reset the neutral position on the left aileron by adjusting the long pushrod again.  I found that the small adjustment I made on the short pushrod required a pretty big adjustment on the long pushrod!  After all that, the aileron travel was no different, so the only thing left to do was enlarge the hole in the seat pan.

I ended up cutting 5/8" from each side.  Then I carefully vacuumed all the debris out from under the seat and around the stick!  I found that before I enlarged the hole, the ailerons could were able to travel about 15.7 degrees up from neural, and 9.8 degrees down.  Now they can move 18 degrees up and 11.2 degrees down.

Next I had to make some adjustments to the roll servo pushrod.  With everything installed and the newly increased aileron travel, I found that the little servo pushrod scraped the underside of a seat rib hole at full aileron deflection, and the long aileron pushrod ran into the outboard rod end bearing on the servo pushrod at full up elevator.

To solve the first issue, I used a tubing bender to just put a slight bend at the inboard end of the pushrod.  That made enough space above the pushrod to eliminate any interference.

The other change I made was to move the outboard end of the pushrod from the front to the back side of the servo arm.  That got it out of the way of the big pushrod with the stick all the way aft.  I used dished washers again on both ends of the servo pushrod to maximize its range of motion, and now nothing interferes anymore and the pushrod doesn't bind up anywhere!