PA Steering upgrade?

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

A perfectly smooth inside and out grommet would be a nice permanent fix. I would buy one. But in the meantime....

x2....literally because I would need two

[lowprofile]

Have you thought about replacing the lines with 200lb coated cable? A friend did this to an outback and it's worked fine. Not sure why he replaced it in the first place though.

[Rambo]

Very ingenious rig to prolong the life of the rudder line, Tony!

As far as having a coating on the wire such as Teflon, plastic, enamel.. and so on, it only helps for awhile but since the rubbing occur at the plastic edge, it will eventually start to protrude through the surface and slowly eat away at the braided line.

My only suggestion is to cut a piece of brass, copper, or any soft metal that is less corrosive to saltwater and bend it to conform the shape so it can take the friction away from the plastic edge. 1/4 copper water metal piping with the fitting might be the best option and spray Teflon inside since the inside is smooth and polish.

[RedSledTeam]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Yes it breaks right at the grommet. If you havent yet, you should at least inspect the steering line where it rides thru the grommet for wear, and repair if needed. I think this problem mainly seems to be assosiated with PAs that have the steering tension knob. When you got that tension knob cranked down for that nice tight steering everybody likes....it really starts to wear on that grommet.

Tony,
To understand your issue better, I acquired a PA14 and had my resident Junior engineer-in-training evaluate your problem with the steering cable failure...
IMG-20140920-01852.jpg
Here is Rockin’ Rolan with his eye on the problem… After thorough inspection of the steering cable system and geometry, we found the following suspect failure areas...
IMG-20140920-01861.jpg
The probable cause of failure is the contact friction-abrasion on the spectra caused by the angle of the cable as it relates to the fer rule/hard grommet. Furthermore, when tension is increased, the side-effect (pun intended) is increased abrasion exacerbated by higher tension-ing of the spectra cable (think of a bow-saw).
PA_FRICTION.jpg
Your suggestion of an ultra-smooth ferrule would last longer, but still may cause friction in the long run. Further we have determined the root cause of the failure is the linear direction of the cable going from the pulley to the rudder post bell crank. The existing angle causes friction at the ferrule/grommet. This geometry acts like a cable saw on the feed-through ferrule. Problem is the ferrule material is harder than the spectra cable causing contact abrasion and wears down the spectra first . If you can change that angle with an extra pulley etc., we at Redsledteam think it will resolve the problem.

[tsugg]

If I can't go fishing the next best thing EVER is the intertainment value of BWE. A reality show is so close !! I can see Tony with his first emmy or oscar!!!

[jruiz]

Originally Posted by RedSledTeam

How about Teflon coated wire? We use Teflon coated multi-strand electrical wire on all of our spaceships and airplanes, although I don't know if there is a specific "tension" wire with a Teflon coating. Does anyone know if such an animal exists?

They make ptfe coated SS cable for bikes. Here's two I've used.

http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Alli...-Cable-Kit.axd
http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Alli...-Cable-Kit.axd