Mitch's Pitch Pivot Bolt and assy stack.
Mitch's Pitch Pivot Bolt and assy stack.
G'Day Chris,
Thanks for the heads up on the bolt stack assy.
Removed rotor head and found bolt to be in what I believe to be remarkably good condition.
First thing my older Brother and I did was observe the teeter bolt action that stack was secure and behaved as it should. Likewise the lateral AN 6-40 bolt stack moved in unison with the fore and aft pitching of the torque tube.
Next step was to remove the entire rotorhead MLS assy as a whole via the pitch/pivot lateral AN6-40 bolt stack. After releasing all components to finally remove the assy first,I removed the cotter pin and tried using my fingers to turn the castelated nut. Not possible.
Put a socket spanner on the nut and it required a small to moderate amount of leverage to break the friction and release. I then un-tighted with my fingers and with my brother now holding the rotor head/MLS assy I removed washers, bushings ect followed by bolt and re-stacked all parts as they had been installed.
There was a good deal of grease on all associated parts.
There has been no contact between the torque tube and the pitch pivot block at all. The joint was tight and moved as a single unit as does the teeter stack and the bolt looked good to me.
The Hardened bushings from the stack look good as do all rubber and steel washers.
The hardened pins on the pitch pivot block, have a slight tarnish and polish to them and there is a tiny tiny amount of play on the two sprung towers for the for aft slider, indicating wear of the oil impregnated bronze O ring bushings.
There is no elongation of the aluminuim parts that I can see. It appears to me that all the parts and the assy have been operating as they should.
I am certain I followed the Butterfly Build Book instructions when installing these parts and torqued the assy as required.
I am grateful to know this bolt will be changed out 50 hourly and recognise the need for regular and ongoing upkeep and maintenance.
Larry has offered to upgrade the top end of my rotor head, with the Aurora bearing block, towers and needle roller bearings. I am excited to have towers which will provide me with the correct amount of teeter, my bread board stops are extremely agricultural
Please take a look at all pics and let me know what you think of the bolt. I reckon its very clean.
There are six pics of my bolt so you can see all the wear or lack of it. Glen Kerrs Bolt is attached as a reference.
Also a picture of my bolt and stack assy parts laid out, you can see I have made a washer out of 25 thou plate (may have been machined down to much less than original thickness.) and installed likely so as I could get the right amount of torque and find the hole on the bolt to line up with the castellated nut.
Chris I like the look of your new parts, I hope you get to enjoy your MLS and Aurora real soon.
Cant wait to get back in the air in my Magnificent Monarch. Wish I had an Aurora. Say G'Day to the Big Fella from me.
Cheers Mate.
Mitch.