Horizontal Stabilizer HS-912 Hinge Brackets

[Brett H]

The Horizontal Stabilizer HS-912 Hinge Brackets from my empennage kit are bent less than 90 degrees. They are typically bent ~88 degrees.

Looking at the RV-14 Wiki and searching Van’s Air Force I didn’t find anyone that had this issue. Also, I’ve not heard back from my email to Van’s Tech Support yet.

This reduced bend results in the distance between the Hinge Brackets being an 1/8” less than the thickness of the rod end bearing that gets installed between the two HS-912 Hinge Brackets.

The force required to pry the brackets apart enough to install a rod end bearing is significant and will make installing the elevators very difficult.

Interestingly my has friend has an old unbuilt RV-9 empennage kit and the HS-912 Hinge Brackets are bent 90 degrees.

My desire is to get this resolved before I rivet the rear Horizontal Stabilizer Spar Assembly to the Horizontal Stabilizer.

Has anyone else seen this issue before?

Thanks.

Brett H
Columbus, IN

 

[bertschb]

Mine weren't as bad as the example in your first photo but I did have to gently pry mine apart slightly to get the elevators installed (multiple times by myself).

 

[Brett H]

The Horizontal Stabilizer HS-912 Hinge Brackets from my empennage kit are bent less than 90 degrees. They are typically bent ~88 degrees.

Looking at the RV-14 Wiki and searching Van’s Air Force I didn’t find anyone that had this issue. Also, I’ve not heard back from my email to Van’s Tech Support yet.

This reduced bend results in the distance between the Hinge Brackets being an 1/8” less than the thickness of the rod end bearing that gets installed between the two HS-912 Hinge Brackets.

The force required to pry the brackets apart enough to install a rod end bearing is significant and will make installing the elevators very difficult.

Interestingly my has friend has an old unbuilt RV-9 empennage kit and the HS-912 Hinge Brackets are bent 90 degrees.

My desire is to get this resolved before I rivet the rear Horizontal Stabilizer Spar Assembly to the Horizontal Stabilizer.

Has anyone else seen this issue before?

Thanks.

Brett H
Columbus, IN

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The feedback that I received from Van’s after an internal review was that I should finish bending these brackets and repair the powder coating with primer as needed.

So, I undrilled the brackets from the spar and used a box and pan brake to increase the bend. The attached pictures show the results.

Van’s later offered to replace the brackets. Having already increased the bend of my brackets and nothing from Van’s indicated that the brackets that they have in stock were any better than the ones I received in my tail kit a few months ago, I’m staying the brackets that I reworked.

This would have been easier to resolve before these brackets were riveted to the rear spar. But, I am glad that I found this issue before the spar assembly was riveted to the Horizontal Stabilizer skin.

Brett H
Columbus, IN