Back to building after quick adventure flying to Kansas City with Nancy and I taking turns as pilot or navigator. Started at Sect 29-05 to "fix" the Control Column Assembly. I discovered upon delivery back in Nov they were not correctly shimmed, binding the bearings so considerable friction when moving. NOT good for that great RV feel! Vans builder support sent shims and new nuts. But I should have yelped about needing to redo (only washers installed were nominal shown in Fig 4) - since this is very difficult and time consuming. Really hard to reach, especially the inner ear. I used a mirror to guide the washer wrenches (the special wrenches are a necessity !) and applied cyanoacrylate to bond thick and thin washer together. Van's advice today was to start at one control stick side, and when successful (low friction after torqued ) proceed to other end. Finally, after several iterations got the RH side moving freely when torqued. Still working on LH side with 4 iterations. Shame can't find a way to accurately measure gap - - I tried, but just poor access -- so only way seems trial and error. #@$%&... to be continued.
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| 2 washers plus thin shim bonded prior to inserting via "washer wrench" |
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| first washer / shims "easy", other side covered by flange is tough |
