Rudder Cables

Should there be any concern on how the rudder cables sit in the bulkhead cable support holes. I just installed my rudder cables and I noticed that when you put a little tension on them the cables rest against the sides of the plastic bushings. Looks to me that the cables are going to rub right through the plastic bushings. I?ve seen in Cessna?s that they use a pulley system to make sure the cables don?t rub. I know that the tension on the cables are not going to be all that tight but surly all that rubbing and grinding can?t be good.

That's the way all RV's have been done since day 1. If you ever actually started sawing through the bushing you could simply rotate it on the next annual inspection, or easily replace them. It's a tradeoff of complexity, cost and weight to have pulleys all over the place, vs something simple, light and cheap (a plastic bushing).

I've inspected a lot of RVs with over 1,000 hrs. and never seen a problem.
Those snap bushings are tuff!

A lot of builders have used double bushings. I think Vans even wrote this up in an old RVator. Find the size bushing that snaps inside the plans-specified bushing. You'll have to split one side of the small bushing so it can be snapped over the cable first.
Still, the bushings and the rudder cables should be annual inspection items.
Hope this helps.

We are approaching 1500hrs and haven't worn through one yet. I actually doubled mine up with a bushing inside a bushing. Just had eyeballs on them last week. However, it was finally time to rotate the rudder cable exit tubes a quarter turn.

Thanks

That all sounds great. I was just wondering. Thanks again.

Cert of Airworth

When the FAA looked at my RV9A for certification, there was some interference in the full rudder travel. Mind you, it had full deflection but there was some binding at full right and full left. It turns out that the holes in the quickbuild cockpit were too high on the right side. I drilled a new hole about an inch lower with a backing plate and re-routed the cables. Problem solved.

JohnInReno said:

When the FAA looked at my RV9A for certification, there was some interference in the full rudder travel. Mind you, it had full deflection but there was some binding at full right and full left. It turns out that the holes in the quickbuild cockpit were too high on the right side. I drilled a new hole about an inch lower with a backing plate and re-routed the cables. Problem solved.

Click to expand...

Hmmmmm, that is strange, because the holes for routing the rudder cables through fuselage members are pre-punched (by machine) in the parts and the left and right side parts are actually made from the exact same punched part (they just have the bends formed in opposite directions).