I plan on replacing the control cables in my 1959 C180 with the McFarlane Kit in a couple months as a part of my annual. It's hard to run a rag over every inch of cable without unspooling them, and at least according to the logs, they've never been replaced, so while everything's opened up, I thought I'd get after it. As an A&P, I've replaced a few individual cables, but never the whole kit and kaboodle. Any tips or tricks?

Thx!

Make friends with a small person who has long arms and dexterous fingers.
Since all of my friends are fat and have short, stubby or missing limbs, I built a sort of scaffold with carpet and some 2x4's. I was able to lay somewhat comfortably and get back to the pulleys at the aft bulkhead without leaving knee shaped dents poking out of the bottom of the fuselage. I also replaced all of my pulleys with new when I did my cables, McFarlane's price was pretty reasonable on them too. Good luck and maybe consider tying a lanyard to your ankle for easy extraction. Also, don't forget to have a supply of small cotter pins for the retainers. Get at least twice as many as you think you'll need. They are small, cheap and easy to lose.

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Thanks, ya'll! Right now the aircraft is well-rigged. Any tips on keeping it that way?

jrc111 wrote:Thanks, ya'll! Right now the aircraft is well-rigged. Any tips on keeping it that way?

In my experience, the ailerons are most often miss rigged on cessnas. Take the time to do them right. Strap a bar between the yokes to keep them straight, pin the bellcranks, and adjust the tenison in the balance cable. Lots of good info on rigging in the cessna serivice manuals. Good luck!

I cut some 4" to 6" thick foam to fit between each bulkhead. Can't remember why I split it in two so there were two pieces between each bulkhead. Try to keep knees off of the bulkhead edge - it hurts.

It is harder getting out than going in.
Helps if you put the tail wheel up on a drum or suitable airframe jack.

Go slow the first time in - some don't know they are claustrophobic until it is tooo late. Oh yeah - don't try it in the sun.

Make sure whoever sets the tensions uses the temperature off-set chart that should be with the tooling.

Chris C

Jeredp wrote:

jrc111 wrote:Thanks, ya'll! Right now the aircraft is well-rigged. Any tips on keeping it that way?

In my experience, the ailerons are most often miss rigged on cessnas. Take the time to do them right. Strap a bar between the yokes to keep them straight, pin the bellcranks, and adjust the tenison in the balance cable. Lots of good info on rigging in the cessna serivice manuals. Good luck!

How do you pin the bell cranks? I had not read that anywhere.

You should also plan on replacing the AN23- screws which act as clevis pins attaching the clevis on the end of the cables to the control arms. I have replaced the rudder cables on two Cessna 170's and both had significant wear of these pins, about 20 percent on the one with 2000 hours and 50 percent (scary) with 6000 hours. These two pins on the forward end of the rudder cables are not often checked for wear.

Tim

Good stuff! Regarding pinning, there's a reference in "simplified rigging" found in the Skywagon Club Manual which describes modifying a couple bolts to place on each side of the aileron bell-crank stop to keep the bellcrank centered. Is that what's meant by pinning?

Thx!

Modifying bolts as described may be the only option on the 180, not positive. On later model 100 series cessna, there is a hole in the bottom of the wing skin that you can insert a long 1/4" drill bit or rod through that engages holes in the bellcrank, this keeps the bellcrank centered while being rigged. Hope this helps

The early model C180 owner's manuals include rigging instructions in section 6 "care of the airplane".

The relevant Service Manual 1953-1962 (Figure 6-8) describes only centering the bellcrank, not pinning or other means of securing that position, or the value of doing so. I'm open to finding out real-world ways of accomplishing replacing the cables and re-rigging that might not be detailed in the service manual.

FWIW here's a scan of the aileron rigging instructions in the 1957 owners manual.

jrc111 wrote:The relevant Service Manual 1953-1962 (Figure 6-8) describes only centering the bellcrank, not pinning or other means of securing that position, or the value of doing so. I'm open to finding out real-world ways of accomplishing replacing the cables and re-rigging that might not be detailed in the service manual.

The common parctice among mechanics is to pin the bellcrank, or as mentionted above, make bolts to place in the slot to 'pin' it in the neutral postion. This ensures that the proper travel in each direction and also inhibits movement and slop while tensioning the cables. If the bellcrank does not stay centered in the slot during the rigging process, it easy to rig the system with yoke neutral and the ailerons not. The result is the limited travel in one direction and over travel in the other direction. Like I said, later model Cessna's incorporated the hole to physically insert the pin in order to accomplish this.

The main objectives are to keep the yokes and bellcranks neutral throughout the rigging process, bring the cables to the proper tension, then adjust the rod ends as necessary. Can't go wrong with the service maual!

One last thing I will mention is that I have seen people try to correct a heavy wing by adjusting the rod end at the aileron. That is wrong! The rod end is used to fair the aileron trailing edge with the flap trailing edge. A wing heavy condition is corected by adjusting the eccentric bushing at the wing attach points. Good luck!

A wing heavy condition can be fine-tuned by tweaking the aileron and/or flap trailing edge up or down between the corrugations. Acts like a trim tab. Don't have to tweak much to get some effect.
Also seen the flaps rigged up or down a skosh when you run out of eccentric.

FWIW, I think it pays to have someone who knows what he/she is doing to re-rig any airplane when it gets out of rig. When I had mine re-rigged several years ago, I gained about 5 knots, and the airplane became much more pleasant to fly. Not inexpensive, but well worth it.

Cary

Thx!

hotrod180 wrote:A wing heavy condition can be fine-tuned by tweaking the aileron and/or flap trailing edge up or down between the corrugations. Acts like a trim tab. Don't have to tweak much to get some effect.
Also seen the flaps rigged up or down a skosh when you run out of eccentric.

No offense, but this is exactly why so many airplanes are miss-rigged. What you are describing increase drag.

Cary wrote:FWIW, I think it pays to have someone who knows what he/she is doing to re-rig any airplane when it gets out of rig. When I had mine re-rigged several years ago, I gained about 5 knots, and the airplane became much more pleasant to fly. Not inexpensive, but well worth it.

Cary

I am not surprised that there was such a speed gain. Like hotrod noted, a little bit of tweeking has a big effect, good or bad.

Jeredp wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:A wing heavy condition can be fine-tuned by tweaking the aileron and/or flap trailing edge up or down between the corrugations. Acts like a trim tab. Don't have to tweak much to get some effect.
Also seen the flaps rigged up or down a skosh when you run out of eccentric.

No offense, but this is exactly why so many airplanes are miss-rigged. What you are describing increase drag.

+1

If you are curious as to the proper rigging for these birds, the Cessna Pilots Assoc. has a great article on the procedure. The article alone is worth the membership. http://www.cessna.org/

(If I remember correctly...) First see if the A/C is true by measuring from the wingtips to the tail and tips to the ground (book calls for specific measuring points.) Next make sure the dihedral isn't wonked by measuring the wings (easy now w/ digital levels and a wash tool [easy to make]). If either of these are bad you are SOL (FWIW, this is the first thing you should do when looking at an A/C to purchase cuz you cant fix it w/out a bucket of $$$) Next, eccentrics back to factory position. Next, flaps rods back to factory spec (this is a great time to buy new rod ends. NOTE: this is a set measurement and should not be adjusted) Next, loosen aileron turnbuckles and strap a straight edge to the yokes and make them even. Next, insert rigging pins into bell cranks and set your cable tension at the rear carrythru. Align ailerons to match flaps. (also a good time to replace aileron rod ends.) Also goes w/o saying that all hardware should be replaced at this time...

Now its time to head up to altitude to do some stalls. (Hopefully you remembered to remove the rigging pins...) Watch the break and make the adjustment to the offending wing by rotating the corresponding eccentric. If the characteristics are still offensive, although unsightly, you can add a tab. If its really bad, learn to live with it or sell the airplane... LOL I gained 10mph after rigging my buggy.

Hope this helps...