Electric trim

A forum in which to discuss topics specific to the assembly of the RV 4.
Post Reply
User avatar
svanarts
Air Marshall
Posts: 1512
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Electric trim

Post by svanarts »

Okay, so I'm not a big fan of electric gizmos that move things. I had trouble with my electric flap motor smoking and that whole "need to clean it every 20 hours or so" thing. Made me go to manual flaps. I went from manual trim to electrical trim and I LOVE IT! It is much easier to control pitch with the electric trim over that manual lever and 10 lb cable that goes to the 3 oz trim tab.

I took the 4 out this morning and headed down to Los Banos (KLSN) for some cheap fuel and then headed back to Oakdale (O27) to do some pattern work. However, a friend of mine coaxed me into going out to play in the foothills so off we went!

Except that I couldn't find him at first. When I called to ask where he was I got the most dreaded answer: "I'm right behind you." :mrgreen:

Doh! I need to fly more often!
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

User avatar
Wicked Stick
Class B
Posts: 1000
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:00 pm
Location: KEWB

Post by Wicked Stick »

Hi Scott,

Glad to hear you got a flying fix in... The weather here in MA is downright wet and windy, so we got to work on getting our 4 back together from it's condition inspection.

All we have left is to finish off installing our custom made footwells for the rear seat passenger. In addition to them making the GIB more comfy, where hoping it also helps to keep their feet from interfering with the pilots thigh area.

We also installed the new stainless steel tail wheel springs to replace the wretched big clunky ones it had on it when we bought it.

Hopefully, once the footwell mod is done, we'll get it back in the air by next weekend.
Dave "WS" Rogers
RV-8 (125 hrs & counting)
N173DR

User avatar
svanarts
Air Marshall
Posts: 1512
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Post by svanarts »

That's one of the things I wanted to do on my 4 but I was never really sure how to make the footwells miss the aileron push tube. I made one out of cardboard once to test it out and it seemed too interfere. Then I got distracted with other things.

Another good mod for an RV-anything with a tailwheel is the Bell tailwheel fork. I replaced Van's stock tailwheel fork with the one the Bell's are making. Much better ground clearance in back. Looks more like an aircraft taiwheel too rather than that shopping cart wheel that Van sells.
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

User avatar
JohnR
Class B
Posts: 1081
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:22 pm
Location: Iowa

Post by JohnR »

Scott, glad to hear you got the 4 flying again! A couple of the guys today were discussing the manual vs electric flaps. It sounds like you prefer the electric after using both. Good to know. :wink:
JohnR
RV-7A - Fuselage - SOLD, just not supposed to be
Numbers 6:24 - The LORD bless thee, and keep thee

User avatar
Wicked Stick
Class B
Posts: 1000
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:00 pm
Location: KEWB

Post by Wicked Stick »

Scott,

Our 4 already has something similar to Doug's fork on it but it's a single fork and has worked well so far. Yes, I do like the extra clearance.

I bought Doug's fork for my 8 and like it a lot.

As far as the footwells, we simply bought the 8's parts for the footwells and modified them to fit our 4. You have to move the entire footwell back far enough so that it clears the tubes, and then cut it shorter on the back end as well as the side pieces. We still used the existing holes on the center piece, but the side pieces get cut up smaller and new holes are drilled using the center piece as a guide.

If you don't want to go that route, the 24 years of the RVator has a page with drawings on it on how to make them from a flat sheet of aluminum.
Dave "WS" Rogers
RV-8 (125 hrs & counting)
N173DR

User avatar
svanarts
Air Marshall
Posts: 1512
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Post by svanarts »

Buying the -8 parts sounds like a good way to go. This is what I did for the trim on my 4. Bsically bought the RV-7 parts and made them work with the existing elevators. Luckily there haven't been any drastic changes in the way these planes are designed so it is relatively easy to re-purpose parts across models.
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

Post Reply