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Heavy left wing

bob888

Well Known Member
I know this is an old story and there are older posts and a Van's 'white paper' on the topic, but I'll throw this out there anyway. I have a heavy left wing, enough that the standard aileron trim (Van's spring system) does not quite correct it when fully run to the right stop. I flew with the wheel fairings off for the first few hours and hoped that putting fairings on would help...not. Virtually the same problem with fairings on. I noticed that the tip of the left wing is about a half inch lower than the tip of the right wing when the plane is sitting in the hangar with the fuselage level laterally. Aileron and flaps appear to line up perfectly with flaps in the reflex position and ailerons neutral. The back end of the left wingtip sits about 3/8 inch above the left aileron with controls in neutral, whereas the back end of the right wingtip is perfectly in line with the aileron. Vans suggested a wedge under the right aileron and I will try that. Any other suggestions or experiences out there?
 
First thing I would do is re-work that left wing tip. Neither side on mine lined up in the neutral position. I split mine at the trailing edge and enough at the outboard end, then mixed up some flox and epoxy, spread it out between the split, wrapped the area in saran wrap and clamped it in position using a straight piece of 1" X 2" pine board about 4' long along the trailing edge of the ailerons and fiberglass wing tips, then let it all cure. You should be able to do that with minimal mess and repaint on you finished wing tips.
 
Stand in front of the wing, and sight down the wing skin onto the aileron. Repeat for the other side. On my plane the left aileron, outboard end, was 1/16" high. Fixed that, and my heavy left wing was gone.
 
ball in the middle?

Curious when flying where is the ball? Most RV10s, mine included need some right rudder trim, this certainly affects the roll. Second, are you using a concrete floor to get those numbers or are you using a laser level system (the only way to go from my perspective). I find talking about fractions of an inch based on "level" concrete seems a bit iffy to me. My concrete nor professional jobs done for me are just not done at that kind of precision. I would also suggest some flap adjustments, bring the left one down just a couple of turn buckle turns. I personally have not had any luck with aileron rigging, nice to hear that can work as Bob mentioned. In some ways wish we had the RV7/RV8 trailing edge bend, was amazing what a change in that bend-radius did for correcting a heavy wing, not an option with the 10s. Maybe consider a small aileron tab, this has worked for others I have seen. Even with the rudder trim, ball in the middle, the left side tends to be just a little heavy, not really noticeable for pattern work and in the cruise, may I just say autopilot (yeah I know, sounds lazy, but is nice :rolleyes:). If it fits a flight plan, I try to have more fuel in the right tank too, usually burn out of there first.
 
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