Very Heavy Aft Stick

Need some help........just purchased a 1953 PA-18-95. The stick is VERY heavy when pulled full aft and makes landing flare difficult. Feels like the nose weighs a TON when taking off and landing? Other thing I noticed is that the entire fore and aft throw feels shorter than it should. I have owned a couple PA-18-95's before and do not remember this being an issue. The pullies are all free and nothing is interfering with the sticks or elevator horn.....I looked. Anybody out there have some idea's on what to check? I would appreciate some idea's......Thanks!

frozen turnbuckle end at top elevator cable, in rear at elevator? (which will be much more of a problem when it finally snaps off..)...??

trim not going in all the way?, or

elevator upper bungee cable/spring broken???

or i guess bottom cable/stop frozen.....

Thanks......I looked at all that, but will look again and a little closer tomorrow!

Did it happen all of a sudden or is the plane new to you?

elevator

If Mike's ideas all seem OK then look at the elevator bungee spring. I have seen several that were not the right ones installed that did exactly what your talking about. If they are to short or to stiff they cause heavy elevator controls. SteveE & I fixed one on a fresh rebuild cub that they were afraid to fly it wasn't the right spring but we made it work by putting a bit of permanent stretch in it.

Also My 90 hp cub with the small tail had the elevator spring installed, I thought they were just on the balanced tail elevators. I'm pretty sure it came from Piper that way.

Dave

Common problem on the 90 hp PA18s I have flown. The early airplanes have a longer throw on the torque tube which makes the elevator heavy. A forward CG compounds this. I installed the under front seat battery STC in one that I fly a lot and it exacerbated the problem. The later airplanes have the shorter throw and feel better. I installed PA20/22 balanced elevators on the one I fly via a field approval and it solved the problem and seems like to me it improved elevator authority. The PA20/22 elevators are the same width as the J-3, PA11, 12 and PA18-95. There is an STC to install them on the PA11.

Also check and see if the stick is the proper height, the last owner may have cut 3 or 4 " off, and we all know how important the last couple of inches are for good control :lol:

Glenn

peyelot said:

I noticed is that the entire fore and aft throw feels shorter than it should.

Click to expand...

THERE is the main hint. Sounds like a leverage thing.
I think SteveP explained it, but wrote the longer/shorter dyslexically.
Sorry Steve if I misunderstood your description!
I'm thinking that a shorter throw would lessen the leverage.

If all your cables are proper tension, pulleys run free, and the turnbuckles are in fact pivoting, then check the bottom of the stick (@ torque tube) to see if something has been changed. OR... check the gizmo that swings the elevator for proper connection locations. I almost connected mine WRONG so it is a possibility.

Is the yoke on the jackscrew installed correctly? I have seen PA-20's with them installed upside-down...

Vickie

Everyone.........thank you VERY much for all the great suggestions and ideas..........they are all great and I have spend time today methodically looking at each of them. This is a new plane to me, but I have 15 years of various Tube N Fabric ownership and that includes other 90HP Supercubs and a number of J3's. All my other 90HP Supercubs were light in the nose at flare and I don't remember any of these characteristics.

The pullies and fittings are all properly installed and lubed, the elevator appears to make full travel up and down. The sticks appear to be full length, although the front stick is not straight, it has a slight "S" curve to it. The stubs look correct too.

There is one other thing that I noticed that has my attention.....both ailerons are trimmed in a slight "Up" position when in a cruise situation. I also noticed that on the ground. Not bad........but, could be a contributing factor?

At this point, other than re-trimming the ailerons, I am out of ideas! Anybody have anymore ideas?

Thanks again to The Supercub TEAM!

Andy In Atlanta

There are two different torque tubes and the stubs that the stick slides into. Look at the Super Cub parts manual and you can denote which serial numbers the parts were changed.