DownUnderFlier

The CT2K's vibration at cruise disappeared when side-slipping one way but not the other .. tracked it down to an out-of-balance nose wheel due to uneven wear. If the side-slip shielded the valve stem from the airflow, the vibration stopped - because the wheel stopped spinning. A new tyre = no more vibration .. nice, simple, & cheap fix .. phew !

Hi Johnr, Do you still have the SW ? If so, could you please email me some photos - I could be interested in all that's left. Cheers, David Modewarre, Victoria. david.spedding@bigpond.com

Hi Pedro ! Never seen a manual flaps version - thanks for the photos & description - I really like the simplicity (maybe not the difficulty of use ?) Our CT2k has electric flaps and goes through the full -12º to +40º range, measured/adjusted using digital angle guage (0º when flaps align with fuselage). The original digital flaps control unit was removed by a previous owner & replaced with a simple up/off/down toggle switch with a cable indicator showing flaps position - watch the indicator till flaps are at desired setting and then flick switch to 'off' position. Normally cruise -12º and power-at-idle landing at +40º. Cheers, David Australia

I discovered these GuideRollers in our CT2k when tracking down a slight scraping/rubbing sound when aileron-ing .. used a borescope + tube + fencing-wire to administer a spray of Inox, all quiet again now .. Cheers, David

Hi Dick, No, haven't re-balanced the Stabilator assembly. Flys well and vibration has gone. Happy Christmas. David IMG_4907.MOV

No unwanted movement in the TrimTab at all, now. Happy Christmas. David IMG_4907.MOV

Our new TrimTab ControlRods finally arrived. FD have dramatically changed the design. 30grams heavier but eliminated the wear-points. Happy Christmas ! David

Definitely replace the hinges ASAP. My process: For Stabilator rivets, hold rivet tail with vice-grips to ensure the rivet doesn't spin when drilling the head off - can't do that for TrimTab rivets as the tails are inside the TrimTab. Use 5mm cobalt drill bit & lubricant with very slow drill speed till almost through the head. Use stiff, sharp spatula/chisel to pry head off the rivet - easy for the TrimTab hinge-wing as you are working against the stainless steel hinge surface .. be careful with Stabilator hinge-wing as you don't want to damage the surface or structure of that. Position the new hinges using 5/32" Cleecos for riveting. I only had one rivet that spun in the TrimTab (examining the tail of that rivet, it was a pre-existing condition caused by a slightly too large hole during assembly) .. in that position a new rivet, the next size up was used. Rivet away ! Notes: Most stressful - carefully drilling the rivet heads Most time-consuming - jiggling the TrimTab to get all 12 rivet tails from inside the TrimTab out the 6mm holes at either end. Most physical - installing the new rivets by hand rivetter (gave more feel than an pnuematic one) ControlRods: The hours of wobbling TrimTab caused wear between the ControlRod aluminium tubes and the steel ends rivetted into them. I decided to replace these and get snug-fitting steel/aluminium ends rather than try and fix what was worn (53Euro each). Hope this helps keep your CT2K (and you, Mike) happy and flying for many more hours ! Cheers, David

IMG_4489.MOV Our CT2K's Trim Tab hinges were worn, giving a vibration through the airframe at certain speeds. Didn't want a fluttering Trim Tab, so replaced all the Trim Tab hinges with new FD ones and now there is no slop in the Tab's hinges. But discovered that there is slop due to due to wear in the Control Rods themselves .. Now waiting on new Control Rods. 8-) IMG_4491.MOV

Hi Jim, I'm looking for a TruTrak API 2 unit & servos for spares for our CT2k. Is yours still available ? Cheers, David

Investigation of loud creaking/banging noises on taxiing, revealed that the 2 pilot-side's bushes (in bulkhead behind the pilot seat and in rear-reinforcement in the luggage compartment) for the MainGear's M8 bolt, had come adrift and needed re-fixing. Now enjoying peaceful taxiing ...

Good persistence, Bill ! 8-)

Hi Andy, I tried ADE-WERK GmbH for a replacement actuator .. they directed me to their 'distributor' for this part: Flight Design, Germany (no response from them yet). I did see a bunch of 150mm linear actuators on eBay - cheap-as-chips .. David

Hi Dick. I just took Corey's advice and re-greased the Jack-Screw. The grease that I cleaned off the Jack-Screw and around the Gearbox was, in places, quite hardened and so wouldn't have been much good for smoothing the action. The re-greased Jack-Screw certainly screws in and out much easier (when twirling by fingers to extract it and re-insert it) than before - I did feel some binding on the Jack-Screw initially, but this seems to have been overcome by the new grease and the oil in the gearbox. The hardest bit of the process was being a contortionist doing it all through the Luggage-Door. Cheers, David

UPDATE : After cleaning and greasing with Moly, the Flaps behaved much better - for a short while - then, just as bad as before ! Removed the motor/gearbox again, and observed that even a tiny glob of the new Moly grease going through the gears, caused the motor to labour. Cleaned the gearbox out and put some Shell Advance VSX4 oil in it (there is a gasket between the electric motor and the gearbox) leaving the Moly on the jack-screw and bearing-races. After several flights and much Flaps cycling, all now working perfectly. David