Posted for "Robert Overmars" <robert.overmars@tiscali.it>:

Jack,

first things first, disconnect the long aileron pushrod from the outboard bellcrank. Then move the aileron through it's range of travel. The aileron should move with vitually NO force and be sufficiently free that it returns to the neutral balanced position of it's own accord. Probably it doesn't and this has happened because the centre and outboard bearing blocks are bolted to the inboard faces  of their respective mounts whereas the inboard bearing block is bolted to the outboard face of it's mount. When your aeroplane was painted almost certainly the aileron cove  and bearing block mounts were sprayed with paint which has had the effect of displacing the inboard bearing block  outboard, whereas the centre and outboard bearing blocks are displaced inboard by the thickness of the paint. With the aileron bearings being nothing more than truncated balls (attached and fixed to the aileron by the fork, the second part of the hinge) in the bearing housings it only takes a very slight displacement of the bearing blocks inboard or outboard for the balls  to start binding against their bearing housings. The axial freeplay before the ball starts binding against it's housing is only a few thousandths of a inch. If the bearing block mounts are painted there's more than enough thickness of paint to displace the bearing blocks so that the centre balls are forced with considerable force against their respective housings which makes the aileron then very stiff to move. I've seen this happen to the point that the autopilot roll control servo struggles to move the aileron.

A solution to this: move the bearing housing in it's bearing block. This can be quite easily done with a little fine threaded G clamp and little ingenuity (you figure it out). It's fiddly work but when you finally have the balls centred in their respective housings with the aileron hinge bolts tightened  you will have your aileron  wonderfully free such that it should return to it's balanced position and you should be able to blow on the aileron trailing edge to displace the aileron which should then cycle up and down a few times before settling in the balanced position.


Another place where there is often binding is the bearings for the control arm torque tube. With pressurisation the fuselage wants to change shape and then you have a situation where the front and rear bearing block s are displaced relative to each other causing the  centre balls which are bolted to the torque  tube to bind against their housings. This is in my opinion a case of not unusual poor Lancair design, a solution would be to have either the the front or the rear bearing ball free to move axially on the torque tube.

For starters I hope this helps.

Ciao,

Roberto d'Italia