Linda. If you also want to change the rear wire housing, then you will have to take the stabilizer / elevator rudder from the plane.
That is no easy feat, since the whole assembly is then loose and needs to be held in place, better yet taken from the plane , so you can work on it when put upside down. Still relatively easy work, but better done with two people and in a hangar. Changing the wire alone is simple - you are not taking anything apart then. Hartmut To: [email protected]; [email protected] From: [email protected] Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:54:03 -0800 Subject: [ercoupe-tech] trim cable wire Ed wrote: If you do fly it, I'd do as John suggests, set the trim tab flat to the elevator. John suggested the chord. Humm. That might give more nose down trim than you want. You might have to hold a lot of back pressure at all speeds during such a flight. But I don't know that I'd want to recommend anything different. It's conceivable that having the trim tab parallel to the upper surface of the elevator might give a trim speed closer to your true trim speed. I don't know and any such flight will be as a test pilot. If you do fly it, I'd want to clamp the trim tab in the position you choose so it can't float and cause elevator flutter. (There's supposed to be a spring strong enough to hold the trim tab against the stop to prevent this.) Ed, To reassure you & explain: There's presently no way to "set the trim tab" at all, it is firmly stuck in one position because it is still attached to the wire, which is stuck in the housing (though now broken at the front handle). In fact, I only discovered the problem during flying the plane home (15 min. flight) after painting. It took off fine, just couldn't trim nose-down during flight and needed to hold forward pressure on the yoke; by the time I realized that, was almost home, and landed fine. The spring & stop are all still where they should be. However, your post did make me think twice. If I attempt to replace the wire myself, succeed in getting the old one out, but can't get a new one in, *then* your concern about the trim tab floating around is right on point! So I don't want to change the status quo unless/until I'm sure of being able to complete the work. Since everyone says (and it feels like) the insides of the rear segment of the wire housing is the likely culprit for why it's stuck, I ordered one of those from Skyport, too. Hartmut has sent me a picture of how to access the connection for that rear segment where tail cone meets stabilizer; if my plane has the same fairing as his, and the connection is right under it, as on his, then as he wrote, I should be able to change both the wire and the rear segment of the housing myself with a helper. In fact, if the rear segment of the housing is rusted-up or corroded inside, then it is better to change it out, too, rather than struggle with (in effect) reaming its insides out. I am going to go look Monday morning to see if it has the same access & connection as Hartmut's. If so, this should be do-able. Rest assured that merely reading your old post about flutter ensures I'd never fly with anything flapping loose. Linda _________________________________________________________________ Keep your friends updated—even when you’re not signed in. http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/windows/windowslive/see-it-in-action/social-network-basics.aspx?ocid=PID23461::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-xm:SI_SB_5:092010
