Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

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johnu
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by johnu »

Rich,

What mods have you done to bump up the cruise speed and climb rate. Most of my flights are at 10500 feet and higher and I get TAS of 129-132.

Great ideas on the access ports. I am going to talk to them about this today to see if they can be put in while they are doing these roller replacements. Apparently all of my rollers are cracked/broken like the picture below.
IMG_0843.jpg
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Rich »

johnu wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:15 pm Rich,

What mods have you done to bump up the cruise speed and climb rate. Most of my flights are at 10500 feet and higher and I get TAS of 129-132.
Powerflow exhaust is the main one. At DA of 11,000 ft. I get 141 KTAS. At intermediate altitudes it'll be in the mid-140's. I always file 140 kt. The addition of the nosewheel fin from Bret has made this consistent. Whenever I compare my cruise at a particular DA with the POH I'm 10-13 kt. faster. The prop is still the stock MT. These are all rich-of-peak numbers. The jury is still out on the Surefly, as I've been battling reliability issues with it that MIGHT have finally been taken care of.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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johnu
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by johnu »

Rich

I could really use the additional speed and climb rates. What kind of climb rates do you get coming out of a 5500 ft airport? I operate out of Albuquerque and Prescott for most of my flights.

Was it a pretty simple install and worked without a lot tweaking?

John
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Rich
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Rich »

johnu wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:46 pm Rich

I could really use the additional speed and climb rates. What kind of climb rates do you get coming out of a 5500 ft airport? I operate out of Albuquerque and Prescott for most of my flights.

Was it a pretty simple install and worked without a lot tweaking?

John
My home airport is 3250 ft., but in the summer we do occasionally see 6,000 ft DA and 5,000 is pretty common. Mostly I fly at lighter weights (2200-2300 lb.) and can get 1000 FPM if I choose. Once off the runway I rarely try max-effort climb for very long and will climb 500 FPM at ~100KIAS and 2400 RPM.

The PF installation is pretty simple in itself. They custom-design it for each airframe type. There's a bracket that attaches to an existing firewall mount. The heater SCAT tubing is a bit different routing but I seem to recall you can reuse what's there. I don't recall for sure but you might have to drill holes for the EGT probes, which you reuse. There's also a bit of rerouting that waste fuel hose beneath the oil sump. You can download the installation manual from the PF site. I recall it taking two of us 2-3 hours to pull off the old system and install the PF. Getting a torque wrench on a couple of the nuts holding the exhaust pipes (old AND new) requires a bit of ingenuity.

The biggest possible gotcha is the prop. There are 4 propellers available for the DA40. One of the Aluminum Hartzell props (the oldest) is NOT approved for use with the PF. The MT, the Hartzell, and the other Hartzell Aluminum are. Details are on the PF site. If you happen to have the "wrong" prop it'd have to be swapped out, with additional hassle and expense.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Steve »

Plus fiberglas work and paint on the lower cowling...
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Rich
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Rich »

Steve wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:37 pm Plus fiberglas work and paint on the lower cowling...
Ah yes, forgot about that. The hole through which the original exhaust passes is abandoned. I got mine taken care of for a few hundred dollars.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by blsewardjr »

When mine was converted to PF they simply put an aluminum plate over the hole where the exhaust had been. Cheaper but less attractive fix. When I bought the airplane I had the cowling redone with fiberglas.
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by smoss »

johnu wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:15 pm Rich,

What mods have you done to bump up the cruise speed and climb rate. Most of my flights are at 10500 feet and higher and I get TAS of 129-132.

Great ideas on the access ports. I am going to talk to them about this today to see if they can be put in while they are doing these roller replacements. Apparently all of my rollers are cracked/broken like the picture below.
IMG_0843.jpg
Anyone actually have one of these rollers fall off completely or get stuck or something? It seems like the cracking is pretty common, but most live in ignorant bliss forever.
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Steve
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Steve »

I would think that it would be highly unlikely. The crack relieves the tension on the teflon sleeve, so there would be no tension to cause a second crack. The cracked sleeve seems to be very well fixed to the metal roller (I've played around with the defective ones I removed from my aircraft), especially with the control rod holding it in place. Even if a portion of the sleeve should fall off and jam between the roller and pushrod, it is teflon, and the normal mechanical advantage of the pushrod would overcome any minimal sliding friction.

But, on the other hand, it is a primary flight control system, so, I'm not volunteering to be a test pilot... ;)

Steve
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Rich
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Re: Push pull Rod Mechanical Assemblies

Post by Rich »

I got to wondering what the inspection requirement is for these roller guides. Digging through the Maintenance Manual I found nothing. The only reference is replacement as a reaction to stiff/catching aileron movement.

The functions I figure they deliver:

1. Support the mass of the rods themselves so that they are not simply hanging by their ball ends and thereby adding wear and stress on the ends, the bellcranks and their attachments.
2. Limit stress caused by bending moment on the rods when under compression (aileron up force).

It would seem that as long as all rollers are still in place, even though cracked, they are still effective at their purpose.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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