Rudder Cable Fairleads

Aircraft Legacy Xenos
1

Rudder Cable Fairleads

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:22 pm

by racaldwell

I have the small skin riveted on the bottom of the fuselage and the large middle and front bottom skins still removed. I had a heck of a time getting the snap ring on the rudder cable fairlead even with one side of the fairlead wide open. I put the snap ring to the rear so in the future I can access it from the hole in the bottom and the hole in the top. However, there is no way a hand can reach thru the top and bottom at the same time and also see what you are doing. After expanding the ring some and half an afternoon, I finally got the rings snapped into the fairlead.

Then I went to hook up the rudder cables to the rudder. The cables just barely reached the rod eye. Cables too short. Sonex sent me a new pair 11/16" longer. So off with the fairleads to change out the cables. This time around, I wasn’t as patient to keep trying to put that ring on. If I was having this much trouble with the large bottom skin removed, I’d never get it done on a finished plane.

So I decided to re-mount the fairlead brackets with nutplates and screws. That way, I can unscrew the bracket and slip it off the cable with the cable hanging out the bottom hole. Putting the ring on with it in your hands right in front of me took 30 secs. I suspect these fairleads will need changing ever few years given how much the cable rubs to the side.

This should have been done when I was building the aft fuselage but I didn’t have the foresight then to see the issue at hand. The pictures show the first one done and the other yet to be drilled out.

Rudder Cable Fairlead with Screws Sm.jpg
Bracket Screwed in place

Rudder Cable Fairlead Nutplates Sm.jpg
Nutplates for Fairlead Bracket

Rick Caldwell
Xenos 0057

Re: Rudder Cable Fairleads

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:00 am

by bvolcko38

My rudder cables were 5/8” too short as well. Sonex sent me new ones 5/8” longer. All is well

2

What’s the trick to getting the snap rings off the fairleads? I went to install my rudder cables while doing page C01 controls hookup…well the ends of the cables are too big to fit through the teflon holes held to the phenolic blocks. So I have to pull the clips and teflon pieces apart to get the cables routed. Luckily, my floor is off.

Has anyone had excess wear issues and having to replace the cables? I’m getting to the point where I want to prevent potential maintenance issues down the road now before this thing is finished!

3

I did the same thing. To get them off I used two small flat head screwdrivers, on to hold one end from rotating, and the other to push it out of the groove. Once one side is out of the groove you can slide your finger around work out the other side. I didn’t think of it but a snap ring pliers might work good.

4

No excess wear at my last annual. I’ll check again in January.