Assembling the Rudder Pedals

Hours: 3

So with me moving on working in the Fuselage I did some rearranging of my garage workshop.

I moved the wings back into the corner. I also turned the Fuselage around to have easier access to the flight deck. (The latest FAA’s handbooks says that even a small Cessna 150 is now a flight deck and not a cockpit 😀).
To get around easier, I also moved one of the work tables up and formed a T-shape.

Garage workshop rearranged a bit.

I am going with the standard Sling configuration of T-bar rudder pedals and the central brake instead of differential braking.
This makes the installation and setup simpler without the hydraulics in the pedals. When I did my test flight of the TSi it was easy to steer it without differential braking.

I inventoried all the parts for the rudder pedals the other day. It took a bit to find the pedal hardware bag. But luckily Juliana found it buried in my mountain of hardware bags on the table in the background.

I noticed that the right side pedal bar had cleaned up attach points, but the left side was missing it. So I had a bit of shaving it off to do. It was pretty easy using a utility knive and then a bit of sand paper to finish it off.

Before removing the paint for the control points
After removing the paint for the control points

With that bit cleared up, all I had to do was slowly build it all up. I had to do a lot of moving left and right of the Fuselage to be able to reach down to put everything in.

The empty bracket for the rudder pedals to install into
clecoing the brackets that hold the pedals in place
Bottom brackets riveted in

With the bottom brackets installed I started putting it all together.

Pedal bars in place and moving freely with the removed paint on both sides.
Top of the brackets clecoed in place that lock the pedal bars in place and final testing for easy free moving of both bars.

With the brackets in place, I then temporarily put together the stops with the AN bolts. That way I don’t have to go looking for the hardware later when I attach the rudder cables to the pedals.

Temporary installation of the stops with the AN bolts (but not tightened, since the rudder cables will connect to them).

The next step was to rivet the brackets in place. This was trickier than I thought due to the tight space. In retrospect I should have temporarily put the brackets together before putting them in, which would have made reaming the holes a lot easier since I couldn’t fit my drill in properly, so I had to turn the reamer bit with my hand for a bit.

Brackets riveted in place

And finally, attaching the pedals to the bars. There are 3 possible depths and I’m not sure yet which will be the best fit. For now I put them on loosely until I have fit the seats and can do a test sit.

Rudder Pedals attached

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