Wing - Left Flaps and Ailerons

2004-06-09 - Aileron bellcrank and pitot tube. (2.0 Hrs).

The reason that I am working on the flaps and ailerons instead of riveting on the bottom skins is because I wanted to make sure everything inside fit before I closed-up the wing. Today, I bolted on the wing tie-down bracket, which the aileron bellcrank bolts to. To do this, I had to remove the fuel tank, so I could get to the bolts on the front side of the front spar. This was a bit of a pain because of the way the wing is sitting. Definitely much easier to do with the wing in the rack.

After bolting on the tie-down, I bolted the aileron bellcrank to the tie-down. I won't say how many times I had to put the bellcrank on and then remove it again, but it was more than three times. First, I installed the bellcrank with the bolt upside down (remember, the wing is sitting upside down on the bench). I doubt that it mattered, but I removed the bellcrank and rotated the bolt. Then, the brass bushing had to be filed down so it was within 1/64" to 1/32" of the length of the bellcrank. When I torqued-down the bellcrank bushing bolt, the bellcrank seemed to drag a little, so I removed it and filed-down the bellcrank a little. That was not the problem. I think there is just a little burr inside the bushing, which seems to be fine, after a little moving back and forth.

Then, I installed the pitot tube, since I thought it might be a bit of a problem to install once the skins are riveted on. The tubing bends around the ribs without too much trouble, so this was not a big deal. I wanted to have the pitot tube pulled out enough to get a bender and a flaring tool on it, but it was just as easy to bend it by hand, and remove the tube to flare the end. The pitot tube could probably be installed anytime, but it is a little easier to do when you have full access to the inside of the wing.