Crash Jr.
Registered User
Anchorage, AK
The trim on my J3 has been pretty bad off ever since I've owned it. It will go all the way to the lower (nose up) limit but will only go halfway up the jackscrew before binding and the cable slipping on the pulleys. In addition the crank is very stiff compared to other PA-18's I've tried. I've been back in the tail cleaning old grease out of the jackscrew, manually running it up and down by turning the pulley on the bottom of the screw manually, and re-lubing/greasing it but still no luck. On the last flight it was okay (still bound up halfway to nose down) but at the end of the flight the pin for the trim handle pulley fell out and started free spinning. After pulling the panel for inspection I was able to put the pin back in but the pulley groove for the pin is all wallowed out and has probably been that way for a while.
So after some research it looks like there is a company that makes aluminum pulleys that would work better but are pretty spendy at about $150 each and I would re-use the cable but have to cut the fabric and patch it to get the crank handle shaft out and back in to replace the pulley. PA-18 pulleys are much cheaper even for the aluminum versions but to convert to PA-18 trim I would have to cut a larger section of fabric and weld in an idler pulley below the handle and add a spring tensioner at the rear in addition to replacing the cable which would obviously be more $$$.
Is it a big upgrade to go to PA-18 trim over a cleaned up J3 trim system? Would keeping the J3 trim system affect any mods down the road like PA-18 elevator control or an extended baggage? Any ideas how much more it would/should cost over just refurbing the J3 trim to go to PA-18 trim?
So after some research it looks like there is a company that makes aluminum pulleys that would work better but are pretty spendy at about $150 each and I would re-use the cable but have to cut the fabric and patch it to get the crank handle shaft out and back in to replace the pulley. PA-18 pulleys are much cheaper even for the aluminum versions but to convert to PA-18 trim I would have to cut a larger section of fabric and weld in an idler pulley below the handle and add a spring tensioner at the rear in addition to replacing the cable which would obviously be more $$$.
Is it a big upgrade to go to PA-18 trim over a cleaned up J3 trim system? Would keeping the J3 trim system affect any mods down the road like PA-18 elevator control or an extended baggage? Any ideas how much more it would/should cost over just refurbing the J3 trim to go to PA-18 trim?