cruisemaster trim resistence

B

bellancaBrian

New member
Anyone ever have trouble with increased resistence on the trim. I have developed an increase in one direction only, and have recently covered the fuselage, not looking forward to cutting too many holes. Going to dive in soon just thought someone had maybe been here before. Brian
 
BB, I have been there. I disconnected the trim tab to eliminate that. The problem was in the shaft that ran from the crank to the tab. I made sure that the sliding bar at the tab was well lubed. This should have an access on the fin above the left horizonal stab. I then ran "Kroil" down the shaft from the crank to the sliding bar. This freed it up more so than I wished! Time has since made it back to normal. When I recovered the Crate nothing changed as the tab was working properly and as anyone in this knows--if it's working don't ---- with it. Lynn the crate 8)
 
Lynn thanks for the reply. Did the oil make it all the way without any assist or did it take a while or any help getting down the tube. The tube is also in more than one piece, if I remember correctly, so I assumed the oil would make it to a splice and then end up in my headliner somewhere?? I have a second fuselage that I am going to cut open and get a better look at what i am dealing with. I think that lube is all I need but checking to see if anyone had the same problem. thanks BB
 
BB, I used small shots of Kroil over a period of a couple weeks. You are correct about the shaft tube being split. That Kroil is magic and it works its way everywhere and every place. Nothing got on the head liner as I did not overload the shaft. I did work the trim constantly nose up and down to the limits. Like I said I freed it more than I wished. My tab creeps in flight and is very smooth ,too smooth at times. This is better than the other way as I had such a bind I feared of breaking the shaft! Then I would of really been peeved! Lynn the crate :roll:
 
Add me to the list of peoplr with trim problems. My trim broke today. All was working and all of a sudden it doesn't. The crank moves easy and the pointer moves but the trim tab does not move. Before I tear into this it there a certain place that breaks like a shear pin or could it be a lot of things?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
On my Cruiseair the trim tab screwed itself loose on one of my first test flights when I bought it. There was also a piece of rubber tubing that made a bend comng out of the fuse that could have broken......Greg
 
The speedometer cable ( or Flex shaft assy...as the parts manual likes to call it) connecting to the threaded trim tab rod broke on mine. I just installed a new piece of cable. When it broke, I called Larry at the club and he sent me a copy of the factory dwg...I couldn't believe that the dwg actually called out "speedometer cable"...but then this was built in 1946!

LARRY
 
Kevin,
I got it from a speedometer shop. I originally put some shrink sleeve on it to help protect it from weather. Took it off 'cause I couldn't preflight it to my comfort level. Larry
 
Kevin, be aware that there are two different sizes to the square shaft that is on the end of the speedo cable. Make sure you take your damaged one to the speedo shop rather than depend on just the drawing. I only learned this because I sent a spare to a friend and he said it didnt fit. I dug deeper and found one that did fit. I dont know when or why Bellanca changed the size, but they did. Since you are working on the trim tab, you might check with the club and see if the trim tab trunnion nuts are still available. If there is any play in them it can cause problems. Good Luck____Grant.
 
I finally had a chance to look at this today and as suspected the flex cable is broken. I have a speedo cable inside a hose and the speedo cable and hose both broke. Is this the correct setup? Larry mentioned not having a cover on his speedo cable.

Kevin
 
I have a very poor quality factory drawing of the trim actuator. It shows that you use a 5.0 in. piece of 5/32 inch dia speeedometer flex cable. This is swedged to sleeve (forward side) and fitting (aft side). The distance between the fitting and sleeve (exposed length of speedometer cable) is 3.5 inches. I tried to attach the drawing, but the jpg is 1.6 MB (1 MB limit) and it won't allow me to upload the 994kb bmp file. Send me your email and I will forward it to you.
Larry
 
Finally solved my severe resistance problem. It was very strange because it involved several problems. The resistance was so great that it had started to rotate the forward most section of the exterior tube with the rod. That is why the resistance was greater in one direction ( when the tube did not spin) and lessor in the other direction ( when the tube spun). I had to take off the roof vent cover to access the rod and tube and file a small hole in the tube to get oil in. I oiled it for a week.
The pressure to turn the trim, when holding the tube stationary was scary! but after many turns it would free up. I would return the next day to add oil and it would be so stiff I could almost not turn it again. Then I could free it up from many rotations and get oil in there and the next day the same problem. Finaly I got the idea to pressure the situation after five days of no gain and Magic it moved the oil where I could not get it to flow and the resistance was low enough to stop the tube from spinning. I added a clamp at that location to help stop the spinning , since the other clamps had lost there grip, and put the vent cap back on. I think I am good to go. Brian
 
I finally was able to take this apart. I have a speedo cable with a hose over it and they are both broken in two. There is a square tube with another square tube inside it that looks like it is meant to move in and out as the elevator moves up and down. This smaller inside square tube is what the speedo cable is attached to. This piece and the piece on the other side of the speedo cable are not in very good shape. I think I can salvage this and solder or braze in a new speedo but if anyone has any of these parts in good shape and would like to sell them let me know. This is a Cruisair.

Thanks,
Kevin
 
This is a timely subject for me as someone called Webers last week stating that they had lost part of their trim tab mechanism in flight. One of the guys asked if they could borrow mine off of my project and use it for a pattern to make a new one. I had two of them and and found the cable inside the rubber hose twisted off on both of them. Consequently, I'm wondering how many other 14-13s are flying with only a rubber hose controlling the trim tab.
Gary
 
Hi Gary, That was me that had the flex cable fail in flight. Webbers decided not to make a part , as they did not have the components on hand. I made one using just the spedo cable without any covering and a 3/16 spedo drive on the end that slides into the hollow square shaft that goes up to the crank in the cockpit. After I made the part I got the drawing that Larry e-mailed me (thanks again Larry) and see that the square end should really be longer than the spedo drive I used. The cable I made works but will double up a bit on full downward deflection of the elevator, this does not cause any problem functionally as the trim would most likely not be changed with the elevator in that position, but I would prefer a more correct piece. As I notice the cable part of the flex cable is most often what fails, I was wondering if a piece of 1/4 inch or smaller hydraulic hose with a square shaft of the correct size (key stock?) crimped into one end and a plug that has been drilled and tapped with 10-32 threads inserted and crimped into the other end would be a reasonable replacement. It seems that on a few of the Cruisairs the stock hose, that I believe is there manly to protect the cable ,is what is doing the work as the cable inside has broken. I have not seen the type of hose that is on the correct part as mine disappeared,but hyd. hose is quite sturdy and I think there would be enough flex to allow unrestricted movement of the trim mechanism regardless of elevator position . Richard
 
I suspect a good hose is better than the original equipment since the cable seems to have a propensity to twist off anyway. :D
Gary
 
Lynn - did you have the headliner apart or were you able to lubricate it through the slot at the trim tab position indicator?
 
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