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jrevens
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2015 12:02 pm 
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dickwolff wrote:
... and now, a DW rant: It boggles my mind that a such fundamental problem can exist on a Primary Flight Control of an 1100 hr. airplane. The rudder not contacting either stop should have been found during the build, the FAA (or DAR) inspection, 30 annual condition inspections, or any of the 100's of pre-flight inspections. Just saying.


It boggles my mind too, Dick.

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James Grahn
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Sat May 09, 2015 10:22 am 
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Dick,
If you need a new 578, I have them in stock.
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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:05 pm 
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While poking around my T-18 today I decided I need to change both rudder cables (part 518-1). Is there a source for cables already made or do I need to pull one and get a measurement to have them custom made?

Thanks,
Jeff

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"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson


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James Grahn
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 11:19 pm 
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I have them already made up.
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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 7:32 am 
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Excellent! I will be contacting you soon.

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Thorp T18
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68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson


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jtwigg
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:56 am 
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Jeff J - why did you decide that you needed to replace your rudder cables? Condition?

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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:07 pm 
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Big flat spots where they exit the fuselage. I had noticed it when I bought the airplane and chose to blow it off then. Looked at them again while doing other maintenance and decided I should go ahead and get it over with. No point in waiting until the strands start breaking. If you have never looked at the criteria, AC 43.13-1B fig 7-17 has a pretty good drawing (mine match the middle drawing). Fig 7-18 is a black and white picture though it shows a cable past due to be changed.

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"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson


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Rich Brazell
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:12 pm 
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Do you have fairleads where the cables exit ? ???

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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:00 pm 
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Yep...doesn't matter, the only places cables wear out is at pulleys and fairleads. Use to have to change rudder cables every other year on an AT-502 because of wear at the fairleads. A local J-3 needs a couple of new cables because of wear where the cables pass through fairleads and/or the fabric. Made a new cable for it last year because an aileron cable was wore bad at a fairlead mid way up the wing strut. The A-10 and U-2 were the same way. Only wear out cables at the fairleads and/or pulleys. The A-10 doesn't have pulleys, just straight runs from bell crank to bell crank with fairleads to keep the cable off the structure.

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"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson


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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:22 pm 
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Cable looked pretty good at first glance. Unfortunately, glancing is not inspecting. The other side was only slightly better.


Attachments:
cable.jpg
cable.jpg [ 405.17 KiB | Viewed 10798 times ]
cable2.jpg
cable2.jpg [ 352.59 KiB | Viewed 10798 times ]

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Thorp T18
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68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson
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Jeff J
 Post subject: Re: Rudder Cables
PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:56 pm 
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dickwolff wrote:
... and now, a DW rant: It boggles my mind that a such fundamental problem can exist on a Primary Flight Control of an 1100 hr. airplane. The rudder not contacting either stop should have been found during the build, the FAA (or DAR) inspection, 30 annual condition inspections, or any of the 100's of pre-flight inspections. Just saying.


I shouldn't make this post but I am going to anyway....I find very easy to believe a problem like that can make it that long and go uncorrected. I have seen equally shocking problems on "certified" airframes maintained by trained and "certified" people. That something like something like this can be built into an aircraft and go unnoticed and/or uncorrected on a homebuilt, possibly built by someone with no aviation maintenance experience or systems knowledge and maintained and inspected by that same builder... well... I expect it when there is personal freedom to do what you want without any real oversight.

I help people who ask to the best of my ability. I don't know everything, in fact, I know a lot less than I have yet to learn and just because I could pass a couple of tests many years ago isn't proof I am a good mech. I do not hire out to work on homebuilts because of things I have seen.

added edit: This isn't meant to imply all amateur built aircraft have severe flaws. Just pointing out that they are amateur built and some people are inclined to do only the minimum required to make something work. "Right" or "wrong" doesn't enter into it but sometimes "scary" does.

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"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson


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