Champ Rudder pedal shaft fits

[Eric Brown]

Hey guys, I'm back with another one.

My fuselage had been rebuilt by the factory. I'm now installing the rudder pedals. Only thing is, the rudder pedal shaft lugs do not line up. The shaft will not go thru both lugs. I have had to adjust the lug alignments by inserting a 1/2" bolt in one or both of the lugs and then tapping the bolt with a hammer to change the lug's angle. This has worked on 3 of the 4 rudder pedal sets. The left aft on refuses to completely align. See pix. I could tap it all the way in, but if the rudder pedal were installed, there would be no easy way to remove the shaft. Swapping shafts around does not change the problem. A 1/2" drill bit fits nicely thru both lugs. Be this a common problem ??? Another FYI. The inboard lugs had only the aft cotter pin hole drilled. No fwd hole.

 

[Big Ed]

Just did mine. At first they were difficult to insert and remove, but that was because of burrs on the shafts and powder coating in the bushings. It is a very close tolerance fit.

Try deburring the shafts and reaming the bushings. I believe the shafts are match drilled to the bushings on initial assembly, which raises burrs where the drill bit exits each layer of metal.

The front shafts are easy to remove because you have direct access to the outboard openings to drive a punch. The inboard ones are harder because the outboard openings are obstructed. You should be able to insert a screwdriver vertically and get some leverage on the bottom end of the shaft to lever it inward far enough to grab the other end with pliers and pull.

If it truly is not lined up, that would be a very sloppy fabrication error. Hard to see how that could happen, when alignment is so easy to ensure with the simplest of jigs.

I would NOT advise trying to bend the bushings into alignment, except as a last resort. You would probably make the alignment worse, and will weaken the steel.

I wish someone had told me that the bearings and bushings are match drilled. I would have marked the location and orientation of each bearing when I disassembled, so the cotter pin holes would align cleanly. It took some trial and error to get that right, as the holes were drilled slightly off center vertically. Rotating them 180 usually worked.