throttle linkage

B

bobgoodman

New member
Not a cruisemaster story but nobody is posting anything so here goes. my rv8 throttle linkage developed a small catch or tightness lately so I decided to fix it because the weather here sucks for flying. I replaced the old style cable end because it had the kind where there is a ball attached to the carb throttle arm and the cable end had a fitting that fit over the ball, then you screw in a set screw and when it's just so you but a cotter pin in the fitting to hold the set screw in place. i don't know what it's called. It came out of my old mooney, whose motor is now in the rv8. i replaced it with a new an3 heim bearing (from mcmaster carr: $5, $20 from spruce). it works perfectly. the ball on the old one was badly worn and was now an oval, football shaped thing and as the housing pivoted on the ball as you worked the throttle sometimes it would bind a little bit. not bad, but who wants a throttle with play or a binding in it?

So now the rain is pouring down and i'm sitting here drinking coffee at home and i realize i forgot to tighten the jam nut on the heim bearing. Taking the cowling off the rv isn't all that hard, but it certainly would have been a lot easier if i had remembered to tighten it before i put the cowling back on. There is really no way that bearing is going to turn itself off a modern cable, it had to be screwed all the way in to get into the proper position, but you know things like that nag at you when an airplane is involved. So i'll fix it tomorrow.

So I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Then I realized, hey, you got 2 of the most amazing airplanes ever made that are cheap enough for an ordinary guy to own. You like working on planes. Life is good.

Besides, at least i remembered, and if i wreck the rv the ntsb guys won't be able to say "what an idiot, he forgot to tighten the jam nut on the carb linkage. that's almost as bad a running out of gas." unless i wreck it because it ran out of gas.

why do people build or buy rv10, when a cruisemaster will fly as well and do anything they will do for a quarter of the cost? plus it's a taildragger. do they make rv10 taildraggers now? i get all the rv models confused, it was much simpler when i built mine.

bobg
 
I think most of the small things I have fixed on the Cruisemaster got fixed because I wake up at 3am and worry about them. Then I think how stupid I will look in the NTSB report if I don’t get it fixed.
 
they fly very similar. in fact, i don't think i'd do a lot of instrument flying in a cruisemaster without a wing leveler at least. look away and you're turning. i wish i could buy non-tso'd avionics for mine, but i can't.

the landing is a little bit harder in the rv. nothing in it's class i've ever flown lands as easy as a cruisemaster. i think the way the gear hangs down and has some travel before the springs engage let you just feel for the runway and grease it on every time, wheel landing it anyway. which i almost always do just out of habit. the rv is so nose heavy it's hard to 3 point. most 3 point attempts seem to end up as tail-low wheel landings. at least on mine. if i had a lighter prop and starter it might be better, but mine is pretty heavy on the nose.

conversely, the cruisemaster is pretty tail heavy most of the time, which makes 3-points easy. landing speeds are very similar, but i'm still learning how to land the cruisemaster and i may get slower eventually. i fly on a 2200 ft grass strip with the hangar in the middle and i can turn off to the hangar most every time without brakes. especially landing uphill.

but the smoothness and responsiveness of the flight controls on both is very similar. beside the cruisemaster, most of the relatively high performance planes i have flown, even the bonanza, handle like a pig in comparison. i used to roll my old mooney, and it took a lot of pull up intially to do one without ending up pointed at the ground because it took a long loong time to get the roll done even with full aileron deflection, and i didn't want to pull any negative because all the oil squirts out if you do and then you have to wipe it off.

i haven't rolled the cruisemaster yet, but i have no doubt it will roll beautifully. btw, on youtube, search for "debbie bellanca fly me to the moon" which is a great video from the 60's showing airshow performaces in a "modified" (ha ha) viking. it should come up, i haven't watched it in a while. i forget debbie's last name, but she was good.

has anybody spun their cruisemaster? that's willing to admit to it? i bet it spins beautifully.

well thats enough for now, im going to watch debbie fly that viking one more time. i just searched. debbie gary. worth the watch.
 
That was a good old video on You Tube, did not know the Viking could do all that on the wing loading, with no supports to the wings? Thanks!
 
I have a friend that told me if you bring the nose up 30deg or so while at cruise speed and power you can do a nice round barrel roll and stay positive all the way around, so no oil leaks and the carb still feeds fuel just fine. A little top rudder to hold the nose up on each side and you are all set.

I have also been told that it spins and recovers just fine, with normal opposite rudder and a small push.
 
ok, i may know someone who has a cruisemaster who will be willing to try it. i'll let you know.

also, i got the jam nut tightened by reaching up from the bottom cowl beside the exhaust with a stubby 3/8 open end and got it tight. took about 5 minutes. but it was just as far as i could reach, if it had been an inch further in i wouldn't have been able to reach it.

bobg
 
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