Hrs: 6

Rudder pedals

After the test fit of the rudder pedals I took them apart for painting the inside dark gray, time to reassemble the pedals.

Before final assembly I did some more research on the kinds of grease. The construction manual calls for lithium grease for the nose gear bushings so I did some research which grease has good reviews and is easily to buy here in Europe. The Liqui Moly LM50 has very good reviews. I purchased it and did some tests with it and compared it with the Boelube product. The LM50 is much better than the Boelube so that’s what I’m going to use:

Test pedals fitted nicely during the test fit: Rudder pedals movement and stops
But they didn’t run as smooth after reassembling, although I marked all parts where they go.

I measured all parts again, especially the bushings have different sizes and they make a difference where to install them:

After quite some trials I found a perfect combination of parts so that smooth movement was assured.

When I assembled the rudder pedal brackets to the floor I left 3 outside rivets on both sides out so that in the future the inside skin skin has more room to slide in between. But when the pedals are installed there is no access anymore to pull those rivets. So these rivets must be installed now:

Next was painting those rivets dark gray as well:

I put the top brackets so often in and out that they required repainting. I numbered them so that they go back on exactly the same location:

After the paint was cure I could install them:

Movement is smooth and there is no play; I’m happy with that.

I didn’t rivet the top brackets in place yet because I would prefer screws, in case I need to disassemble the pedals. However the holes are 4.1 to 4.2 mm, so too large for M4 bolts and too small for AN3. So probably rivets will be the best solution and hopefully I never have to remove the pedals.