Avid Randy

Does anyone have an extra F7a bellcrank for the upgrade?  Or doing a rebuild and could give one up for a short time.
I've been in contact with Mark from the new Avid about getting my Speedwing Ext kit and also asked him if he could provide F7a upgrade.  He has searched and has not been able to find any weld notes on it.  So he currently can't make them.
So if someone could provide one for a short time they can copy it and start to make new ones to help a lot of Avids in the future.
Thanks in advance for any help!  Cheers Randy 

I know in the past there have been several discussions on flap handles becoming loose.  I found this while installing mine and thought I would just throw it out there.  Probably would be more for the ones that bought used already assembled Avids since they would have no idea how or how well the builder assembled the bird. 
The kit provides you with the F-54 friction washer that goes between the frame and the handle and it has a 1/4" hole in the center from the factory.  In the first photo you will notice the side by side photo of the washer and where it is to be installed.  The center hole is 1/4" but where it is to be installed over the shoulder of the 1/4" bolt hole is 3/8".  So the washer needs to be drilled to 3/8" so that it will fit over the shoulder and sit tight against frame and the handle when installed.  If not like the second photo the only friction that you are getting is against that little shoulder around the bolt hole and that will wear very quickly and become loose for sure if installed that way.  The manual does not reference this in any way so some may have installed as is.  I don't know if anyone has installed this way or not but just thought I would show what I found while installing mine.  The third photo shows washer installed after being drilled and this would allow the friction to be spread across the whole washer from frame to the flap handle.  Maybe this will help someone some day.  Cheers Randy  (I guess the photos got backwards but I'm sure you can figure it out)

I don't even know where to start....other than I have been working on this control column for hours and hours and hours trying to get it to fit properly to then drill holes to mount it.  It seems no matter what I do it just will not work completely free as it should.  I am so aggravated that I am pulling my hair out and  ready to just cut, grind, bend, pry, pull etc. to get this thing to work right!  (Hopefully not!) 
First off, the control stick connecting link inside the control column is too long.  When  the rod ends F-38 are screwed on the whole way the stick pivot sockets still angle inward towards each other.  I guess I'm going to have to cut off some of the threads to shorten the rod/link so things will square up properly.  Has anyone had to do this during there build?
Then the tabs for the mounting of the F11 control column bracket were welded too high on the cross bar so I had bent them down some and straightened them back out so that it is close to the height of the pass side tabs.  Because of this I added an extra piece of ply under column end bracket so that the control column would be rather level otherwise the bellcrank u-joint would not even fit into the end of the control column.  Figured once I know everything is fitting well I can make a new control column end bracket that is at the correct height to accommodate this.
After getting the control column level the bellcrank u-joint still strikes the bottom of the control column when entering the end.  The screw head grinds into the bottom.  I can adjust things at  times so that in the neutral and aft positions it will work freely but when moving stick forward the u-joint binds on the bottom.  Also at the same time with stick forward and to the left the F-38 rod end shoulder binds against the bottom of the stick pivot socket as seen in the photo.  It works fine to the right.
Reading AD #04 advises to reduce bushing thickness of the stick pivot socket forward or aft to help with alignment.  Probably have to grind the front bushing down so pivot socket moves forward and place washers aft to help with the rod end shoulder binding.  With the u-joint binding , it seems the front aileron bellcrank is too low so I was thinking of doing the same thing as the pivot sockets.  Grind some of the upper part of the bellcrank pivot bushing off and place washers below it which would help raise the bellcrank an 1/8" or so and hopefully allow the u-joing to move freely in and out of the control column.
Just wanted to reach out and see what you guys think about this and if any of you have had problems like this before I go doing something drastic and make deviations/changes that can not be reversed.  Thanks for any info/input.....Cheers Randy