Rudder Cable/Gear Tower Interference

I ordered my RV-8 with ground adjustable rudder pedals. Since the air-adjustable setup is now standard, the ground adjustable setup seems to require a fair amount of fettling to get right. I've worked out most of the bugs, but there is one issue that I haven't seen mentioned in any searches yet. When either of my pedals travel to full extention, the F-852C forward rudder cable and the castle nut/bolt that join the forward and aft rudder cables make contact with the aft reinforcement rib on the WD-813-1 landing gear bolt weldment at the base of the gear tower (see photo below). In a worst-case scenario, it might be possible for the bolt head or castle nut to get caught on the front side of the reinforcement rib, jamming the rudder in full deflection. I realize that if this happens I could reach down and pull it free, but I want to eliminate the possibility of it happening. I also don't want any contact wear to occur on any of the components involved. I've thought of a few potential solutions, but I wanted to ask here to see if anyone else has had this issue and what they did about it.

Thanks.

Martin,

It's good to see you making good progress on the RV-8. When I purchased my kit you had the option of ground adjustable or air adjustable rudder pedals and I opted for the ground adjustable. Looking at your photo, they have either changed the ground adjustable rudder pedal kit or else you are missing an arm that bolts in and allows the cable to pivot. It's where my rear pedals attach into the linkage. The somewhat hairy leg in the photo is applying full left rudder.



I hope to get back to Oshkosh for 2018 so maybe I'll see you there.

aerovin said:

Martin,

It's good to see you making good progress on the RV-8. When I purchased my kit you had the option of ground adjustable or air adjustable rudder pedals and I opted for the ground adjustable. Looking at your photo, they have either changed the ground adjustable rudder pedal kit or else you are missing an arm that bolts in and allows the cable to pivot. It's where my rear pedals attach into the linkage. The somewhat hairy leg in the photo is applying full left rudder.

I hope to get back to Oshkosh for 2018 so maybe I'll see you there.

Click to expand...

I think the idler arms you show are actually part of the rear seat rudder pedal option and might not be included with the ground adjustable or in flight adjustable kits.

Skylor

Yep, you are correct. My mistake.

I was unaware of the idler arm for the rear rudder pedals, as I did not order them. Maybe I'll call Van's and get the arm only. That's a nice solution.

My cheap & easy fix

Here's my simple solution to that problem. I've put 130+ hours on my 1-year old -8, and have never noticed a problem with this "fix".

http://websites.expercraft.com/dbw/index.php?q=log_entry&log_id=87915