Folks:

First let me say that I know well that everything is supposed to be in
double shear. Lord knows I have busted my butt to make sure
everything is in double shear.

But.

I have a portion of my aileron circuit that has a fork fitting to
provide the requisite double shear. However the bolt hole in the
crank is seeing some misalignment and is starting to wallow the hole.
I really, really should replace the fork fitting with a rod end (i.e.
it never should have been a fork fitting to begin with, it was a spur-
of-the-moment fix that was really just a band-aid). But the crank
being driven by the fork is going to be impossible to replace with a
two-armed crank that can nest a rod end.

So, I am faced with the possibility of using a rod end in single
shear. I know that this is viewed as being undesirable, as the
bearing can be popped out of the eye under certain conditions. I also
know that the traditional trick to compensate for this is to use a 970
washer (large area washer) on the outer end of the bolt holding the
rod end, such that if the bearing leaves the eye the washer prevents
the rod from departing the scene.

Now, with all of that said, here's my question: How bad is it really
to have the rod end in single shear if I do the washer trick? It's an
aileron rod, I do not think it sees much load at all--certainly far,
far short of it's rated load. I have seen several planes out there
with rod ends in single shear, so it can't be complete suicide . . .
right? No?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Steve.