Tail lift struts a little short.

[schu]

So I'm trying to finish up the tail and I'm finding that my tail lift struts are a little short. If I had another 1/4 then the threads would cover the witness hole on the forks, but they could even be 1/2 longer, especially since I airfoiled the stab and need to lift them up even a bit more to get to 3* incidence.

Anyone else have this problem? Right now I can think of 4 ways to fix it:

1. Talk to Mark and see if the factory ones have been changed and are longer.

2. Get some tubing, cut out the AN490, and install a new one with some tubing to lengthen it.

3. Get more airfoil tubing and just make another lift strut.

4. Move the bold in the horizontal stabilizer in 1/2 and just weld the existing one shut.

I have a tig and know how to use it, so I should be able to make any of the above work.

Thanks,
schu

[swpilot3]

Hi schu.

The airfoiled tail requires less of a negative incidence so that puts the leading edge up just a bit. That makes your tail lift struts a bit short as you’re describing. Mark has longer ones. Go ahead and give him a call. I’m sure he’ll take good care of you.

[Mark Goldberg]

Moving the leading edge of the hor stabs up one degree (from 4 degrees down deflection to three) when using the airfoil shaped ribs means 3/8" movement of leading edge. This is a complication of doing that. Schu, I can help you a couple different ways. Mark

[schu]

Interesting. I wonder if I trimmed the bushings when I first got the kit because I’m measuring 3.6* right now and the struts are still too short.

Mark, I’ll give you a call in a bit.

[schu]

Now that I'm looking at it I think I'm going to get the flying wires done first and get everything square before I call, that way I'll know exactly how short they are. Probably in a few days.

Thanks Mark!

[Battson]

I recommend not using tail struts which have excessive thread showing above the clevis end. They can suffer from bending stress, fatigue, and break off in flight. It happened to me at 9,500 ft on a turbulent day.

Work with Mark to get a proper solution.

[whee]

I remember looking at this issue a couple years ago. Seems like I found some clevis ends that were longer than standard but I'm not sure that's all that great of a solution. I made my own struts; they were super easy and only took maybe an hour each.

[schu]

If I make them, I'll do it by the plans and eliminate the clevis. It's probably less work, and one less thing to futz with.