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I'm having an issue where the triangle-shaped trim spring weldment on the control stick assembly is scraping the bottom of my seat pan (Waiex with standard lowered seat.) I can't bend the weldment down any farther because the cross bar that connects the ailerons is already contacting it when I input full right aileron. Anyone else had this issue?

The pics below show the control stick and trim weldment with full right aileron input. This is with the wings installed and I can tell that the ailerons are not quite at full deflection when the cross tie hits the bottom of the weldment, so bending the tab down would only reduce my aileron deflection.





And this picture shows that it's done to the bottom of my seat pan after just a little time spent on the ground moving the flight controls around.



The steel weldment is filing a groove in the seat pan that will eventually cut through the pan.

The only real solution I'm seeing at this point is to remove the weldment and come up with a different way to attach my trim spring to the control assembly.

I had same problem .... I took the seat pan out, turned it upside down on a sand bag and using a ball pein hammer, made a dent about one inch wide and the length of the rub mark and about 1/2" deep.

I also had the same problem. I am stalled a butt brace under the seat pan. In my case it was a big butt brace as the seat pan was bowing down. I used a simple piece of one by one angle and it solves my problem.

caymancraig wrote:I also had the same problem. I am stalled a butt brace under the seat pan. In my case it was a big butt brace as the seat pan was bowing down. I used a simple piece of one by one angle and it solves my problem.

Interesting, is it secured to the fuselage in any way, or is it just a stiffener riveted across the pan?

I have noticed that the rub only occurs when I sit in the seat with upholstery installed. If i sit straight on the metal pan, it doesn't rub, at least when I'm alone.

Do you have the lower seat mod?

Gripdana wrote:Do you have the lower seat mod?

Yes, in the Waiex the standard seat in the plans IS the lowered seat.

Ryan,

I had the same issue. I built the seat pan to the plans but what I found out was that it ended up having a little "slack" in it when attached via the hinges. What I did was drill out the rivets at the front hinge attachment on the seat pan and move the hinge aft about 1/4", redrilled the holes, and installed new rivets. This makes the seat a little harder to install as the hinge loops are flush with the front of the seat pan. However, it completely cured my problem. It effectively made the seat pan have less give when you sit on it. Hope that makes sense?

Mine rubbed too. I put some shrink wrap around the spring to keep it from rubbing metal to metal.

I believe everyone with a Waiex has run across this problem. I did a similar trick of peening the bottom "up" to give clearance from the spring mostly. I don't have this issue solo but it was an everytime occurrence when I was two up. Adjusting the seat pan took care of the matter. Not a lot of extra room with the lowered seat as standard in the Waiex.

Larry
Waiex121YX, Jab3300 solid, 456.5 hrs., 19 degrees out. damn!

Thanks again for the responses, surprised I haven't come across mentions of this issue before. I want full flight control deflections which can be achieved by bending this tab upwards slightly, but its current (stock) position already limits right aileron deflection before I've even attached the spring (which will add more material to the top of the tab to scrape on the seat pan, due to the "hook" of the spring into the tab.) I will likely try a combination of peening the seat pan and relocating the forward hinge on the seat as mentioned above.

Has anyone found an alternative method to attach the trim spring to the controls that works?