Rudder pedal mounting

Hi guys,

I'm getting read to drill some holes in the side rails for the rudder pedal mounts. If I butt the plastic bearing blocks up against the firewall corner brackets, will there be sufficient travel for full rudder deflection? I'm gonna make two sets of holes so I can move the assembly back a bit if needed, pending the final test-sit with the seats in place.

Basic answer: Yes.

Long answer: pedal travel , and more importantly, brake pedal travel will be impacted by how far aft you angle the rudder pedals themselves. You can reach a point where you have full rudder pedal travel but may not have sufficient brake pedal travel to get the pads on the rotors.

That being said, I did the same, however, if you ever plan on using a rear-mounted prop governor, do not do this! Why? Because your F601-K recess will not fit, as the aft face hits the rudder pedal crossbar.

No problem for me initially, and conversations with The Mothership says the recess isn't structural, so a bit of sheet stainless will cover the hole nicely, and this mod will give lanky blokes a bit more legroom.

Where my pedals are in my nearly-flying -9A.

Don't forget to set the angle of the brake pedals.

I made a rig to hold both rudder bars on my workbench. Then with the bottom rudder bars clamped together so they were side-by-side, I installed the rudder peddles.

The trick was figuring out how much they should tilt forward. I found placing a Sharpie horizontal across the top of a peddle and behind the vertical tubes gave me the "right" angle. I then set the other three peddles to match the first one.

Tilting the peddles forward slightly like this allows you to push on the rudders without worrying about poking a brake.

Great input?.thanks! KRviator, I'm going with a simple fixed pitch prop, so it sounds like I'm OK to use an unmodified recess.

Bill, excellent tip. I think I'll clamp them together as they sit in the fuselage, hanging straight down, and then fine-tune the brake angles as I'm sitting in the plane, with some blankets/pillows to simulate the seat padding. Gives me a good reason to fab up the seatbacks now to give a better sense of how I'll fit.

Gonna go with just left-side brakes for simplicity/lightness, so that reduces the work load a bit. (Long pivot bolts on order; shopping tonight for master cylinder return springs/collars.)

I'm finding if I get stumped or in head-scratching mode to just bounce around a bit in the assembly order and just use my 3 hours/night to get something done?like the seatbacks, or the elevator bellcrank, or the aileron trim widget?or whatever.

OK, made some progress. It really is hard to gauge how much forward tilt to put in the brake pedals. I decide to mount the whole rudder pedal assembly maybe 3/4" back from the firewall angle mount…I'm long-legged, but I like a bit of a bent-knee position for good leverage, so it feels comfortable to me.

Do you have the rudder pedals hang "straight down" in the neutral position? (I know they're angled, but equal angles, right and left, from vertical in profile.) And do you think it's better to err on the side of tilted too forward on the brake pedals? I've included a pic of the right pedal/brake assembly to show what feels about right.

Did you guys hold off until later in the build to drill the lower attachment points for the master cylinders?

My pedals are angled slightly aft, but not that much IIRC.

I assembled the entire assembly in one sitting, pedals, brake cylinders, etc early on in the piece.

Drill the attach points, bend the vent lines, and place them in the fuselage. After you make sure the lines fit, disconnect them, tape off the ends along with the fittings (use painters tape) to keep junk out. Once that is done, leave them laying in there as snaking them into position later is a pain!

Just use a pen at the top of the peddle to set the angle. That worked out great and you don't have to slide your feet up and down on the bar to use them. The reason for the long bolt is is because builders don't tilt the peddles. If you do this, you won't need the long bolt. Another weight savings.

Regarding the return spring, I don't have one and haven't felt the need. On longer trips I'll lift both rudder bars up with my toes and stretch out.

Am I missing something? In your pic the rudder cable attach is in the wrong place. They should be next to the skin, on the outboard sides.

Thanks again, guys. I've set the assembly aside for now. I haven't drilled the holes for the outboard plastic bushings because my angle drill came with bits that really grab toward the end of drilling a hole…I really tore the snot out of some aluminum earlier, so I either need to grind the edges of the bit a little or get new bits.

Pedals do swing freely, so maybe springs aren't needed. The ones fitted in the pic are too beefy anyway…they bottom out at about half the cylinder stroke, so potentially a safety issue. I'll buy some thinner springs that will give more travel, if I use them at all. Good tip on fitting the vent lines to check for clearance. I just got my bending/flaring/cutting tools from ACS, so I'm ready to destroy my first sections of tubing.

Pilot2512, you're right. There are tabs for the rudder cable attachment on both sides. Not sure why, and the plans don't show them inboard either. A puzzlement.

Is Van's using the ssme rudder bars for the -10 (and maybe the -12)?

Here is a picture of mine. Like you, I was fanatical about kepping the weight down. (990 lbs for the first flight.) Still, I included brakes on the right side because it makes getting & giving instruction much easier.

Thank you for posting the pic, Bill. That really helps to see the angle. I think I'm gonna keep my pedals bare aluminum and polish them up, so they'll be the only visible uncoated/unpainted pieces on the plane. A bit of "jewelry" in the footwells.

Wow, 990 lb., that's a featherweight for a 9!