December 27, 2007
The flap pushrod, connecting from the hinge to the flap drive in the wing
is made out of tube with a "T" on one end and "heavy" nut (5/16 -24tpi) welded
to the other end to hold a rod end bearing.
The plans clearly say "check length on assembly". Well, since the airplane
and wing were in another county when I made the flap pushrods, I just made
them to the length shown on the drawing. After all, everything else
has fit perfectly so this should as well.
Not so fast friends. Mine ended up 1/2" too long. With the rod end bearing screwed all the way in (even with out a check-nut) to the pushrod, the flaps were still about 5 degrees down, when in the full up position. Easy fix, but a pain in the rear because these had already been painted. The fix was to cut the nut off the end, plus 1/2" off the tube, then weld on a new nut. With them re-painted, I'm ready to go. I'm just glad they weren't too short as I would have had to re-make the whole thing.
Moral of this story - If it says "check length on assembly" - do it.
Thankfully, the aileron pushrods were the perfect length so no problems there.