Realizing that installing the bolts, washers, and nuts through the elevator rod bearings and HS (horizontal stabilizer) bearing would be an almost impossible task with fat fingers and small openings, I bit the bullet and ordered some special tools from Avery Tools. They included a spring loaded bolt grip and washer wrenches as well as temporary assembly pins. (Avery part nos. 5866, 23800, & 445). I had seen them on the EAA "Tips for Homebuilders" videos that came with the EAA e-mail news letter. It was difficult even with the tools, but Charlotte and I slowly and patiently learned how to use them. I spent a lot of time on the garage floor looking for AN960 washers. Before installing the elevators one must streamline them with the HS and drill the horns. I bought an aluminum bushing at Home Depot to use as a drill guide to protect the HS bearing while drilling the pilot holes in the horns. Vans says to use a #40 bit for the pilot hole but the smallest ID bushing I could find fit a # 27 bit and it worked fine. I then drilled out the pilot holes using a 1/4' bit. Finding the bushing for the drill guide was the hardest part of the whole process. One of the special tools was a set of bent-nail type temporary pins (with the same diameter as the AN3 bolts) that had handles which would unscrew so that you could move the evlevators up and down. They are a life saver as you have to remove the elevators quite a few times before installing the bolts for the last time.
Pilot drilling the horn thru HS bearing using bushing guide.
