Control Cables & pullies - 7GCAA

[poetpilot]

I've got a 1967 7GCAA. It's just in for its 50 hour check, but the engineer (thankfully) spotted a problem which we now have.

The elevator and rudder cables have suffered from seized pulley wheels - the cables have started to fray and have also eaten away at the pullies themselves. Good job they've been found on the ground rather than suffering control jamming in flight :roll:

Now, when we look at the parts catalogue and manual for the 7GCAA, the pullies all appear to be aluminum. However, on my machine, there is a mix of fibre and aluminum pullies. What's more, the fibre pullies are bigger in diameter than the aluminum ones.

The problem is that although we can order new pulley wheels and cables from Safe-Air, they do not have a record of the fibre pullies. And because of the size difference, we are worried about ordering new cables that may be too taut or slack depending upon the mix we have in the aircraft.

Can anyone help if they have had a similar experience, in terms of what they did to resolve? Plus if anyone has the parts numbers for the fibre poullies (and a source for them) that would be very useful.

I'm going over to the airfield later today to note what pullies are where - I'll post any more details if I get any more.

Everyone here is scratching their heads, but I just want to get my bird up in the air again

 

[poetpilot]

Ok, I've been over to look at the problem myself now.

The problem is all with the elevator cables, which run aft from the rear joystick to the tail.

There's a large fibre double pulley (2 pulley wheels side by )approx. 2 3/4 in. in diameter & approx. 3/4 " wide witha 1 3/4 inch bolt. It's brown in color.

Further back near the tail is another 2 3/4" diameter fibre pulley but this is just a single one approx 3/8 inch wide with a 1 inch bolt.

Then there's two rather damaged aluminum pullies approx 1 inch in diameter which go somewhere in the cable run (the engineers had removed these pullies). The engineers feel that the fibre pullies are worn and need replacing - there is no argument about the aluminum ones, they have dies a nasty death.

The cables seem to be two separate lengths - and blow me down, I forgot to measure them ! I'll get them measured on Monday.

 

[poetpilot]

Problemn solved, courtesy of the yahoo citabria group (which of course includes several of the good souls from this here site!).