After replacing my rudder cables due to a failed Nicopress crimp sleeve, I adjusted the length of the new cables so that with the rudder at full deflection (against the stops on the vertical stab), the pedal weldments were ~1/8" away from the hard stops up front. (Recall that the purpose of the hard stops at the rudder pedals is so that you will still have brakes if a rudder cable should fail.) During taxi testing today I noticed that the right rudder pedal was hitting the hard stop up front and I didn't have enough rudder authority to keep the plane straight until I reached 40 KTs. When I returned to the hangar and measured the rudder deflection. With the right pedal against the hard stop, rudder deflection was only about 25° - not even close to the required minimum of 30° and not even close to hitting the stop on the vertical stab. My cables had stretched!

So I'm going to have to remove the header tank (again) so I can shorten the turnbuckles I installed at the rudder pedals.

Has anyone else experienced rudder cable stretching? Will it continue or is this just an "infant mortality" situation? Has anyone come up with a way to adjust the length of the rudder cables without removing the header tank?

Thanks in advance--

  --John