Brief Description: Installed pitch & roll autopilot servos
Among other items I picked up my TruTrak autopilot servos during my trip to Oshkosh. The servos came with a new set of mounting hardware and some basic installation pictures. After some study and checking with some folks on the Van's Air Force Forum, I installed both the pitch and roll servos.
I installed the brackets for the pitch servo somewhat differently from the TruTrak pictures but this was due to engineering changes in my pre-punched kit. You will see in picture one below I installed the brackets outboard and up against the existing bellcrank mounting brackets. This required filing a radius on the new brackets to mate to the Van's part and replacing four std rivets with flush equivalents (under the forward end of the new brackets). This also requires some hardware changes (mostly bolts and washers). You will also note that I used three flush screws with washers and locknuts rather than rivets to fasten the new brackets. The whole assembly is quite sturdy. One final note, there are some small wires on the bottom of the pitch servo that are too close to the bulkhead. I will address this by removing a small portion of the bulkhead flange and placing a small piece of split tubing over the flange so it can't rub on the wires.
Finally, I installed the front servo per the supplied pictures. I was concerned about possible interference between the cable connector at the front of the servo and the port aileron push/pull tube but everyone says it's not a problem. When the ailerons are rigged, I don't think the control tube rotates enough for the push/pull tube to touch the wiring harness. Anyway, I will double check it when installed.
