Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes I bought New Ones

I have a 1970 C150K and am in need of steering rods, I need both left and right. I'm hoping to find used parts as I really don't want spend $320 each for a new ones.

Please Help!

In This Post , Rachel said she had parts for some 150s. I don't know if they're interchangeable. Might want to send her a PM.

Kandace
I have a left one for a 150E, I'll have to check the parts manual to see if it fits yours. Alan

Hey Kandice. Why are you replacing the rods ??

I considered looking into replacing mine and I may at some point.

I have a 150G and might be replacing the rods very soon. If I do it will be with new ones since they're worn and I don't want to just replace them with other worn parts. I'll hopefully know in a few days whether it'll be necessary (or whether other things will fix the shimmy problem). If it is necessary to replace them, I'll have a set available. Don't know whether they'd fit your K model.

Roy

I'm replacing them because they are worn out. The have far more play in them than the manual specifies and the reason I checked is because the airplane doesn't like to turn right.

Kandace

Thanks Kandice. I wonder whether or not worn, loose or soft rods can exacerbate a shimmy. I never did any research on them because I've been busy with so much. LOL

It is my understanding from the manual that they can not only effect shimmy but also inflight trim.

Kandace

Now we are getting somewhere. yay !! This has been my suspicion with Delmar. There is no looseness anywhere on the linkages, and I tricked out the steering damper. Another thing that had an affect was I lowered the air pressure in the nose wheel a few pounds BUT... BUT.... Delmar can get into a hella-shimmy taxiing if the conditions are right. Every once in a while.... you have to stop the plane and you'd swear something was going to tear off the front end. Nothing stops the shimmy except stopping the plane completely.

My spidey senses have lead me to the steering rods more than once but I have never heard anyone speak of this as a root cause. To me.... weak steering rods allow excessive movement and exacerbate the shimmy.

As for the inflight affect... my mechanic adjusted my steering rods and they were off a bit. Actually, my rods had extra tension on them, over extended to put additional pressure (sping tension) on the nose wheel. To me... someone was trying to compensate for weak springs or wear.

Great stuff !! I will now find out how these things are made. From my observation on how mine work... it feels like just a tube with a spring in it. Another QUEST !! I'm loving it !!

Thanks Kandace for getting this started up.

My parts book shows all 150's use the same p/n steering rods, left and right are slightly different lengths/p/ns.
Steering rods are tubes that are hooked to the rudder pedal cross tubes and the rod is hooked to the steering collar, there is a heavy spring inside that will let the rod extend slightly or let the rod retract with no resistance. They are generally pretty bulletproof. If the rudder system has been rigged correctly, I don't believe they should have an effect on shimmy.The swivel joint at the tube end of the steering rods is adjustable and I've seen some of those too loose, they are a bear to get to in the plane to tighten up.
I had loose rudder cross bar bearings and replacement of those gave the steering rods something to pull against to resist the shimmy.
Alan