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Old March 24th 04, 11:00 PM
Dan Thomas
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"MRQB" wrote in message ...
Went in to the mechanic this morning it was not any thing major no parts
needed he just took some slack out of the cable's and made sure it was
strait. boy can I feel a difference in the rudder peddles nice and firm no
major slop. Every thing is all bolted, pined and safety wired back together
& working great. We even go the ARC RT-308 radio to come out.



Let us know how it flies. If the mechanic doesn't follow the
rigging procedure laid out in the maintenance manual, the airplane
might pull to one side or the other. The centering device for the
Cessna 150's (and 172's) rudder system is the nosewheel centering cam.
It forces the nosewheel to a straight-ahead position when the aircraft
is off the ground, and if the rudder cables aren't adjusted with the
nosewheel off the floor the rudder might not be centered in flight.
That centering system is why the nosewheel steering in one of these
airplanes is so springy and imprecise; the steering rods have internal
springs to allow rudder movement when the nosewheel is locked.
Every used Cessna we have bought and put into service has had
misrigged flight controls. Rudder, aileron, elevator, everything.
Maintenance manuals are expensive, so many shops don't have them and
don't seem to know the proper order of adjustment.
And as Dale Falk pointed out, a broken rudder pedal return spring
can leave cables slack. It'll also make the airplane pull to one side.
Check your rudder stops to see if they are the new, large types.
The older ones can get caught behind the rudder stop bolt head and
lock the rudder full over, especially if hinges are worn. In Canada we
had an AD to force installation of the new stops to prevent this after
a 150 crashed and killed an instructor and student. They had been
practicing spins and spin recoveries, and on the last spin the rudder
locked. If you can't stop the spin, you can't get the nose down to
break the stall.

Dan