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PCU5000 and Van's VA-183 mounting bracket problems

Pmerems

Well Known Member
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PCU5000 and Van's VA-153 mounting bracket problems

Fellow builders,

I need your help.

I received my FWF kit a few weeks ago and decided to return the MT governor and purchased a PCU5000 governor instead. I read the posts and talked with the PCU folks and Van's and it appeared the VA-153-PC bracket should work. In fact there are several postings saying the it dropped in without any modifications.

Well that is not the case with the VA-153-PC bracket and the PCU5000 in my case. See photos attached.
pcu5000.jpg


Many of the posts I reviewed had the old style governor bracket. This bracket mounted to the base flange of the governor. The current bracket mounts from the rear of the governor. I was told by Van's that this is the only bracket available and the reason they changed the design was to give more access for the oil lines.

Here are my issues:

1. The holes don't line up and need to be slotted to match up.

2. The inner radius of the bracket doesn't fit and would need to be enlarged or a spacer needs to be placed between the bracket and flange (see photos).

3. With the thickness of the bracket and spacer one of the screws hits the stop bolt. This interference occurs with the stop ring in the proper position with respect to the control cable travel. Possible fix: remove spacer, grind down radius to fit PCU. This would only eliminate 0.063" of the height issue. but would leave very little edge distance for the mounting holes to the radius.

4. I can not get the AN3-11A bolt into the control arm due to it interferes with the flange on the PCU. This may not be a unique problem for the PCU (Any MT owners with this issue). Bolt shown is a AN3-10A with a temporary nut install. Possible fix: grind down one side of the head of bolt to clear the flange.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.
 
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Same exact issues

Paul,
I found the same issues you did. I figured my bracket must be from a bad batch from Van's or something. I was about to write them an e-mail tonight describing the issues when I stumbled across this post. Everybody that participated in the PCU-5000 group buy will be experiencing this same issue sooner or later. I believe there where more than 50 of us. I finally got mine in the mail today. Since I see your post was a couple months ago, have you come up with any better solutions? Otherwise I'm going to get out the set of files and get to work.

-Brad Vier
RV-8
FWF
 
had the same issues...
at least the bracket is a good start. but could just as well be perfect from the start... wouldn't cost that much more...
unfortunately, you will encounter more of that...
my experience so far has been everything firewall forward had to be somewhat tweaked, filed, etc... to fit. even the new style baffling kit is still a pain.
and the latest example is the filtered airbox fiberglass snorkel that needs quite a bit of adaptation to the oil line going from the crankcase to the cylinder head.

bernie
 
I just did this.

I just experianced this on my RV-6.
Paul created some of his problems by first adding a spacer under the bracket.

This is what I did.
First, file the radius to fit, mine just needed a little tweaking at each end, this helps the holes aline better.
Second, use a small round file, like a chain saw file to elongate the screw holes. It doesn't take too much, but it does elongate the holes some.
I installed thin washers(3)under the screw and original lock washer to cover
the elongated holes....looks very professional.
Third, I reversed the direction of the bolt and adjusted washer locations accordingly.
Everything adjusted up just fine, although I haven't run it up yet or flown it.
Good Luck
 
VA-183-PC

The VA-183-PC bracket the Vans use to sell works very well. Maybe Vans could tell you who they used as a supplier for the VA-183 bracket.
 
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4. I can not get the AN3-11A bolt into the control arm due to it interferes with the flange on the PCU. This may not be a unique problem for the PCU (Any MT owners with this issue). Bolt shown is a AN3-10A with a temporary nut install. Possible fix: grind down one side of the head of bolt to clear the flange.

Same problem with the MT governor. Just reverse the direction of the bolt and move the washers accordingly.

gov1-w.jpg
 
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Does the PCU5000 from the group buy come with the gasket? I guess mine should be arriving this week.....
 
Prop governor to VA-153 clearance solution

I ran into the same problem as everyone else with the lack of clearance when using the VA-183 mounting bracket.

I was in a rush, so I did not change the radius on the bracket where it mounts to the governor. So, I had to use a spacer between the governor and the bracket. Of course I also had to slot the two end holes in the bracket, as discussed above.

My first attempt at fitting the rod end was to put the rod end on the aft side of the governor control arm - i.e. it was on the face furtherest away from the governor body. That solved the clearance problem, but it put the rod end at quite an angle to the ideal axis. I decided that I needed to find a way to put the rod end on the forward side of the control arm, so it would be closer to the governor body.

Today, I bit the bullet and removed the governor control arm, so that I could insert the bolt, then put the control arm back on. The control arm hole is splined, and you need to be careful to put it back on with the same orientation as you took it off. I planned to mark both the arm and the shaft, but I discovered that there were already alignment marks on both of them.

  1. Figure out how far the rod end needs to be threaded on the governor cable end. In my case, I threaded the rod end almost all the way in.
  2. Ensure there are alignment marks on the control arm and the shaft, to help you reassemble them with the same orientation.
  3. Bend the locking tabs that secure the bolt in the control arm.
  4. Remove the bolt in the control arm.
  5. Slide the control arm along the shaft a little ways.
  6. Grab the end of the spring that pushes on the control arm, and disconnect it from the control arm.
  7. Remove the control arm.
  8. Insert the bolt through the rod end and the control arm. You should have a large capture washer next to the bolt head, then one of those tiny little rod end clearance washers. There should be another tiny rod end clearance washer between the rod end and the control arm.
  9. Put the control arm back on the shaft, but don't slide it all the way one yet.
  10. Put the spring back on the control arm. I used a loop of safety wire to pull on the end of the spring.
  11. Slide the control arm back in place, and check your alignment marks to confirm you have it properly lined up on the shaft.
  12. Insert and torque the bolt on the control arm. It has a small head, but is actually a 3/16" bolt, so 25 in-lb is a good torque value.
  13. Bend the tabs to lock the bolt in place.

 
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New Governor bracket design from ExperimentalAero

Gents,

As I mentioned in my initial post that there is a problem with the latest bracket (VA-153PC) and the PCU5000.

I spent many hours trying to figure out a solution that was acceptable to me. I made a few similar brackets to the VA-153 that fit the PCU5000 properly but still had several issues with respect to installing the bolt and still have acceptable clearance during the arm rotation. I wasn't satisfied with the results.

I looked on the web for photos of the VA-183 to see how it was installed. I called Van's to see if they had any old stock of the VA-183 but they didn't. I was told the reason Van's stopped selling the VA-183 was because builders had issue with the bracket interfering with the oil hose coming off the rear of the accessory case. Several photos on the web show this interference and many builders cut away some of the bracket to reduce this. However cutting away the bracket also reduces the strength and rigidity.

So I decided to design my own bracket that captured the best of the VA-183 (mounted to the base of the governor and no control arm bolt installation issue ) and the VA-153 (alignment to the forward side of the control arm-allows a generous control cable radius from the firewall and keeps clear of the oil hose).

After several iterations I am proud to say I accomplished my goal, a bracket that works great with the PCU5000.

I can get more photos of it installed if there is interest. The bracket is made from 4130 steel with all cuts and bends were made with simple hand tools and a vise. I can have a engineering drawing available if requested.

EA-GOV-BRACKET.JPG
 
A drawing would be great

Not sure about others, but I would sure appreciate a copy of a drawing if you can make one up.


Gents,

As I mentioned in my initial post that there is a problem with the latest bracket (VA-153PC) and the PCU5000.

I spent many hours trying to figure out a solution that was acceptable to me. I made a few similar brackets to the VA-153 that fit the PCU5000 properly but still had several issues with respect to installing the bolt and still have acceptable clearance during the arm rotation. I wasn't satisfied with the results.

I looked on the web for photos of the VA-183 to see how it was installed. I called Van's to see if they had any old stock of the VA-183 but they didn't. I was told the reason Van's stopped selling the VA-183 was because builders had issue with the bracket interfering with the oil hose coming off the rear of the accessory case. Several photos on the web show this interference and many builders cut away some of the bracket to reduce this. However cutting away the bracket also reduces the strength and rigidity.

So I decided to design my own bracket that captured the best of the VA-183 (mounted to the base of the governor and no control arm bolt installation issue ) and the VA-153 (alignment to the forward side of the control arm-allows a generous control cable radius from the firewall and keeps clear of the oil hose).

After several iterations I am proud to say I accomplished my goal, a bracket that works great with the PCU5000.

I can get more photos of it installed if there is interest. The bracket is made from 4130 steel with all cuts and bends were made with simple hand tools and a vise. I can have a engineering drawing available if requested.
 
Picture

It would be great to see a picture of it installed too!
Thanks for your original post and great pictures that got all of us talking about this.........it really help everybody!:)
 
Installation Photos of bracket

Gents,

Here are some photos of the bracket installed. I will work on the drawing over the next few weeks and post it on my website. Sorry the text is fuzzy.

I hope this helps.
EA-GOV-BRACKET.jpg
 
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Gents,

Here are some photos of the bracket installed. I will work on the drawing over the next few weeks and post it on my website. Sorry the text is fuzzy.

I hope this helps.
EA-GOV-BRACKET-1.jpg


This bracket looks like it may have some flexing issues under normal use.

Looking at the lower left picture, If a brace was to go from that screw just fwd of the
bracket, and the brace ran up to the cable case hole at the end of the bracket.
The brace would be in line with the control cable and stiffen the bracket.
 
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PCU5000

I am getting ready to order a governor and I was sent a form for specifications and I don't know these answers. Specifically it ask for:

Drive Ratio
Rotation Facing Base
Control Lever Angle

I have a Lycoming O360A1A and a Hartzell prop.

thanks
 
With the fairly recent PCU-5000 group buy, what are folks currently doing to mount these?

Looks like the pictures from this thread are gone. Can someone repost them?

Thanks,

-Dan
 
I will

I recently updated my server and some of the links are broken. I will repost these photos by this weekend.

I am helping a friend with his PCU5000 install this weekend and will see if the braket I designed works with his installation (which is basically the same as mine). Mine has been trouble free for 4 years.
 
Checking in on the thread...

Hi Paul,

I'm probably one of the last PCU-5000 group buy people to install his governor. I just downloaded your plans, thanks very much for tackling this. Any chance you could re-post the pictures of your installation? They're not showing up in VAF any more.

How has the bracket held up in service over the last few years?

Dave
 
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Updated the link to the PCU bracket

Dave,

I just re-linked the photos. I have almost 350 hours on my RV-7A and haven't had any issues with the bracket.

EA-GOV-BRACKET.jpg
 
Paul,

Many thanks for posting those pictures!

Please check your PMs...I have a question for you.

Dave
 
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