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Shown here is one of the six elevator bearings. A bronze
bushing is bonded inside the top structure (the horizontal stab) and the
elevator (lower structure) rotates on a steel bushing - all wear occurs
on the bushing/bearing surface and none on the bolt. Most of the
bearings in the kitfox are constructed in this manner and many of the
bearings were not manufactured to sufficient precision resulting in
control friction. In this picture you can see that when the bolt
is torqued to spec, the metal tabs on the elevator push against the ends
of the welded bushing housing. |
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The problem is that the bearing is too short, it needs to fit
precisely between the tabs shown so that when the bolt is tightened the
tabs will not be bent inward. |
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First, the steel is turned down to the proper outside diameter.
Next the bolt hole is drilled at one size under and then reamed to the
precise inside diameter. Finally the bearing is cutoff to the
exact length for each tab, this takes a few iterations to get the
perfect length. The six elevator bearings are not interchangeable
and care must be taken to insure that each goes in its correct bearing.
Replacing all six bearings drastically reduced my elevator control
friction. |
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I had to replace several other bearings, the trim motor bearing, the
trim scissor link bearing, and several others. |