Nylon Torque bearing

I decided to use 3/16" nylon as a bearing since I had some and I need to move forward for the inspection. Once the metal bearing is unbolted, the torque tube can be pulled forward and out of the airplane. The front stop and control stick were removed. I'm going to keep it lubed with white lithium grease or similar.

Steve Smith mentioned wear on the front bearing. My concern was placing the new nylon bearing in behind the stop ring and moving the torque tube forward. I have a 60mm strip of nylon and cut a piece 50mm x 60mm. 50mm will fit inside the existing bearing.


Drilled the 1 1/8" hole before I cut to size so I could have something to clamp to on the drill press. Cut to size 50mm x 60mm and predrilled 2 rivet holes, top and bottom. Placed over the torque tube and backdrilled through the metal bearing. Then I moved it inside and riveted. You can see the wear line from the metal bearing, the stop ring isn't installed in this picture.

I got lucky and there was enough space under the rivets for the front shim, might be better to put rivets in the corners of the nylon bearing. Don't forget about the shim!

I can feel the difference and it is smooth, no metal to metal contact, so far.


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Comment by Stephen R. Smith on March 15, 2010 at 11:05am
The nylon should be slicker then Aluminum. Grease is good!

Steve
Comment by Jake Reyna on March 15, 2010 at 10:50am
Steve, I did get your drift on the front bearing wear, but I thought that adding a nylon bearing to match the rear would be a good thing. It does make for smoother action. I've added 1/16" nylon to my next order will use behind the shim along with some grease. I'm also looking for a thin brass washer/shim.
Comment by Stephen R. Smith on March 15, 2010 at 10:18am
Looks like nice work.

In case I was not clear, the wear I saw was on the front-facing surface of the front bearing. A substantial amount of aluminum was warn away. This was becuase of the load on the elevator cables which pulls the torque tube backwards.

Steve
Comment by Jake Reyna on March 14, 2010 at 12:56pm
Steve, the bearings and torque tube are installed, minus the aileron cables and there is no slop, it feels real nice. No binding or that feel of metal to metal. Only time will tell if it works as well as Nyloil, but I think it should be lubed on occasion.

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