Installed wing servo
A must-do for today was to rent a 172. I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 months since my BFR, and I’ve done no flying. Boeing Field was a bit crazy when I got there with lots of business jets arriving for the Seahawks game. By the time I was in the air, I was the only one around. Eerie. I did 4 perfect touch and gos (not surprising considering the perfect weather) and called it good. I’ll need to do a lot more flying to get ready for the test phase.
With the wing riveting done, it was time to install the servo for the wing leveler autopilot. I assembled most of it on the bench, although doing the safety wire for the servo bolts would have been a really good idea, too.
The bellcrank had some fore/aft slop in it. I chucked the brass bushing in the drill press and shortened it up about 1/32″. That caused a minor problem when I went to install the assembly in the wing. The bolt holes didn’t line up. I added a -416 washer between the bushing and the bellcrank bracket and the problem was solved. I used the jig Vans provides to find the neutral point for the bellcrank and made sure the servo arm was at a 90 degree angle per the instructions. I maneuvered the torque wrench in there to tighten everything down and applied torque seal.
