On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 10:53:31 -0800, "Bob Loer" wrote:

The tail dragger I am building shows a closed loop rudder cable system. That
is to say both front pedals are joined by a cable that loops around a pulley
in front of the control stick on the floor. There are also pedal return
springs.

Is this extra weight and complexity needed? What is the advantage or
disadvantage? One point that my be pertinent is the rudder cable branches
off with a lower cable to the tail wheel just after it exits the fuselage.

Without the return cable, your pedals may flop backwards due to the weight
of the rudder cables and the ground attitude. If there's no stop, you may
end up with them falling flat on the floor if you take your feet off them.
A little tough to get back upright.

Some light springs (or just a limit cable) would do the trick.

The springs on my airplane are kind of weak, so the cables go a bit slack
when the plane is sitting on the ground. I regularly have people come up
and "warn" me that there's something wrong with my rudder cables....

Ron Wanttaja