Piper PA-28 question

I recently purchased a 1973 Cherokee Charger. So far, I am really enjoying
the aircraft, but I have a question that has gone unanswered. There is no
mention of it in the POH or the information manual that I have.

Beneath the throttle quadrant but above the fuel selector (on the right
side), there is a knob that I am unsure about. This knob rotates and turns a
marker that indicates "L" or "R". I believe that this may be a trim for the
vertical stabilizer but I am unsure of how and when to use it.

I could be totally wrong, so any advice on this would be greatly
appreciated.

Rudder trim. Use it to center the ball at cruise.


"GE" wrote in message
...
I recently purchased a 1973 Cherokee Charger. So far, I am really enjoying
the aircraft, but I have a question that has gone unanswered. There is no
mention of it in the POH or the information manual that I have.

Beneath the throttle quadrant but above the fuel selector (on the right
side), there is a knob that I am unsure about. This knob rotates and turns
a
marker that indicates "L" or "R". I believe that this may be a trim for
the
vertical stabilizer but I am unsure of how and when to use it.

I could be totally wrong, so any advice on this would be greatly
appreciated.

In article ,
"OtisWinslow" wrote:

Rudder trim. Use it to center the ball at cruise.

Assuming it works. From what I've seen of various Cherokees, as often
as not, they're pretty much inop. It connects into the rudder cable
system with springs. The springs eventually wear out or get out of
adjustment, and people tend not to bother fixing them.

Mine works but just *barely*. It takes quite a bit of turning to budge the
rudder. Can anyone give me an idea of how much the getting a new set of
springs will set me back? I hope it's not as ridiculous as the cylinders for
the seat vertical adjustment...

Marco


"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"OtisWinslow" wrote:

Rudder trim. Use it to center the ball at cruise.

Assuming it works. From what I've seen of various Cherokees, as often
as not, they're pretty much inop. It connects into the rudder cable
system with springs. The springs eventually wear out or get out of
adjustment, and people tend not to bother fixing them.

Mine works but just *barely*. It takes quite a bit of turning to budge the
rudder.

The trick is to give the knob a turn, then kick the appropriate
rudder pedal. Always works for me. I presume the kick ovecomes the
friction or "stickiness" in the system.

vince norris

Interesting. I'll have to give it a try. If it works, I'll owe you a cold
one!

Marco


"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
Mine works but just *barely*. It takes quite a bit of turning to budge
the
rudder.

The trick is to give the knob a turn, then kick the appropriate
rudder pedal. Always works for me. I presume the kick ovecomes the
friction or "stickiness" in the system.

vince norris

Roy Smith wrote:
Assuming it works. From what I've seen of various Cherokees, as often
as not, they're pretty much inop. It connects into the rudder cable
system with springs. The springs eventually wear out or get out of
adjustment, and people tend not to bother fixing them.

Hmmmm. That's weird. Mine is 37 years old, and it always seems to work
whenever I need to tweek it.

--- Jay



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

Those items are part of your annual. If they are not corrected then you need
to bring it up to you AP IA next time out so he will be sure to verify
proper rigging of your controls and possibly find corrosion has set in to
inhibit proper pilot adjustments. You never know how far these minor things
might become major.
"Jay Masino" wrote in message
...
Roy Smith wrote:
Assuming it works. From what I've seen of various Cherokees, as often
as not, they're pretty much inop. It connects into the rudder cable
system with springs. The springs eventually wear out or get out of
adjustment, and people tend not to bother fixing them.

Hmmmm. That's weird. Mine is 37 years old, and it always seems to work
whenever I need to tweek it.

--- Jay



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

Simple enough.

Do I turn it toward "L" if I want the ball to go left or is it opposite?


"OtisWinslow" wrote in message
...
Rudder trim. Use it to center the ball at cruise.


"GE" wrote in message
...
I recently purchased a 1973 Cherokee Charger. So far, I am really
enjoying
the aircraft, but I have a question that has gone unanswered. There is
no
mention of it in the POH or the information manual that I have.

Beneath the throttle quadrant but above the fuel selector (on the right
side), there is a knob that I am unsure about. This knob rotates and
turns
a
marker that indicates "L" or "R". I believe that this may be a trim for
the
vertical stabilizer but I am unsure of how and when to use it.

I could be totally wrong, so any advice on this would be greatly
appreciated.

In a previous article, "GE" said:
Do I turn it toward "L" if I want the ball to go left or is it opposite?

Hold your foot on the rudder pedal to center the ball. Trim in the
direction of least resistance until there is no resistance. Release your
foot from the rudder pedal. It should now be trimmed.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances"