Wings Forum

Just curious about something. . . . when I was inventorying my kit, I noticed that the rudder pedal assembly was bare steel. . . no powder-coating. Since then, I've seen photos of others, and their rudder pedal assembly is definitely powder-coated, and some of them have painted them to match an interior color.

My brake pedals are even powder-coated. . . just not my rudder assembly. Can anyone think of a reason for this, or was it simply an oversight? It's no biggie. . . I can certainly put epoxy primer and paint it. . . just don't know why it wasn't.

I'm getting closer to getting started with my kit. I began wiring my building today. I just picked up a whole house standby generator that I had ordered, but installation of that will have to wait awhile. Too many distractions. . . not enough hours in the day.

Mine were bare as well. I used self-etching primer an then painted them flat black.

I never asked why they are not finished, I only guessed it was because they are comprised of two pieces permanently assembled which have to rotate in relationship to each other and powder coating could result in binding. Just a guess.

My advice is to hit them with at least primer early and a few drops of oil at the pivots to prevent rust.

I think mine were unpainted, as well.
I am sure that they cannot powder
coat that welded assy with the
pivot points.

I have kit #126.

John

The pedals on mine were not powder coated as well.
Carl

PS I thought you were going to come down to New Richmond.

Hi Carl-

Oh, I'm coming down. I just have to get all my "ducks in a row". I'm so frustrated that it has taken so long to get all of my "pre-build tasks" finished before I get started on my Highalnder construction.

I'll be down there with my camera in hand before you know it !

The pedal assembly parts are unpainted because they need to be "massaged" to get them moving freely, and you need to position them properly before painting. Here's the quote from the manual, section 1, page 12:

"The bottom tube will have to be trimmed in length to fit and some massaging may be necessary to achieve a smooth operation. Once located and all bolts will go in and operation is smooth move pedals to the most forward position they will go and drill through the two oil holes in the inner two bushings with a #40 bit. Place two of the 3/32" rivets in these holes. This will hold the bushings in the correct place while painting. After painting remove rivets."

Powder coating them works. I prepped mine as suggested, but I drilled oil holes in the outer bushings as well (and added the rivets there). I sent them off to a local powder coater. After removing the rivets, the parts all came loose with just a bit of strong-arming, and with no damage to the paint.

As I recall from putting our Highlander together seven years ago the first thing I did with the pedal assembly was to paint it. The second thing I did was to spend a day and a half unpainting it cause nothing would fit. There might be a lesson there.

Gil T.

Sheepdog your the man I let this thread run to see where it would go but you nailed it. If we powdercoated the pedals the two inner bushings wouild not be located in the proper place and would not work. There really close tollerances and need to be located before painting. Jak