Joystick Install Part 2

I spent about an hour on joysticks again. My pilot-side joystick moves freely, but I found that I hadn’t yet tightened down the copilot-side bracket that attaches the joystick torque tube to the main spar carry-thru assembly — that’s why it was moving so easily! As soon as I tightened the screws, the copilot joystick became difficult to move. So, I have to remove and adjust the angle of the flange on this bracket too.

I made a short video showing the difference between a properly installed joystick and a joystick that’s binding up because the bracket is not bent properly:

Since this bracket was unmodified I wanted to put my angle finder on it to measure it… I measured the flange at 92°, and per my previous post, it needed to be 95° on the pilot side. On the copilot side, the bend needed to be closer to 94° to get the joystick to move smoothly. It’s hard to believe that 2° would make such a difference, but the bushing ID is just a tiny bit larger than the OD of the torque tube (maybe 0.5mm?), so there’s not much tolerance for axial mis-alignment.

Unmodified bracket, measured angle is just a bit over 92°
Using a bench-top vice and hand seamer to adjust the angle of the bracket flange

After making these adjustments, I ran into a new problem, this time with the lock collar. The front bushing was now pushing up against the bracket, leaving no room for the closeout bracket that secures the front bushing. So, I will have to drill out the rivets and install new rivets with the joystick in-situ.

Per my weekend post, I recommended installing both front and back collars before positioning the joystick into place, but I’m amending that recommendation now to install the rear collar only (since it’s pretty inaccessible once in position), then position the joystick assembly in the fuselage, install the front closeout bracket, and finally drill and install rivets into the front lock collar.

The lock collar is pushing out the bushing, leaving no room for the close-out bracket that goes on the inside
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