rod end question

[airlina]

I just finished my condition inspection on my Series 5 and found a bit of play in my stabilizer brace rod end bearings and want to replace them. The problem that I have is I am having difficulty cross referencing the old Sky Star female rod end designation (CW-3BM-14) with anything from the Aircraft Spruce catalog. Can I get one of you guys with the newer kit to check your parts list to see what rod end is called for, which may point me in the right direction. Thanks Bruce Lina N199CL

[jdmcbean]

Try 93002 - in stock.

[kmul]

bruce, i thought it unusual for your rod ends to have play since they dont move very much compared to the control linkage rod ends. then recently looking at my own horiz stab noticed that there is play in the new rod ends. they are aurora rod ends. there is very little radial play but a fair amount of axial play when new. i wonder if this is what you found. the aurora rod ends are way cheaper than the heim ends and im wondering if the heim rod ends have less axial play. if i find out that they do i'll replace the new aurora ends in the struts. the axial play doesnt show up as much of a factor in the control linkages.

[airlina]

How the problem became evident with my airplane was that I noticed on the preflight that if I grabbed the tip of the horiz stab and wiggled it, there was a hint of play. After investigating the trim slider blocks (I have a Series 5 with a full trimable stab) and aft stab connection, all looked good. That led me to the rod ends and sure enough they were the culprit. I found a second set of the exact same Aurora bearing in my leftover parts bin and replaced them, and all the play was gone. I have since done some research and found that these bearings are "economy" bearings (read cheapos) so I contacted Aurora bearing and they recommended that I try a P/N GMW-3M-470 bearing as a stronger substitute. Apparently it is a 3 piece bearing that has a better service life. Cost was 14 bucks a piece at Wicks, so not too much more on price from the original bearing.

[kmul]

after looking on auroras web site, gmw-3m-470 might not work on the struts. misalignment angle is 10 degrees while the strut is about 20 degrees. i will order a couple of these anyway to check them out. the smaller misalignment angle will keep them from rubbing on the forks on the control rods. the aileron bellcrank in particular would benefit from this as the rod going under the seat rests at an angle to keep it off the fuselage tube. i modified the fork on the bellcrank to keep it from rubbing the fork but a smaller misalignment spec would do the same thing.

[airlina]

I saw the spec on the misalignment angle was less than the originals but I thought that will install them and do a full travel test to see if they work out.