Kevin... any play is too much play... but, we have to have some to make the parts go past each other... smile...
We have found that you should not have much more.... than about 1/16 to 1/8 inch movement at the rear of the trim tab... that means that all the bolt to plate fittings are pretty tight...
They are common parts.. and not to expensive... make sure you use new nuts and bolts... and kotter pins... when you take them appart and put them back togeather again... Just tightening (torquing the bolts and nuts tighter)... won't do... it will take the play out for a while but it will make the system work harder and will loosen up more later... but, it will make the plane slow in reaction and major cause for the ... I trimed it and it changed after a while ... syndrome.. when it got some vibration to move it around and relive the pressure...
Make sure you use kotter pins and or new nuts that are the positive locking type... no nylocks or fiberlocks here... we don't want this thing coming loose in flight...
If you look in the illistrated parts manual you will see the trim tab and its attaching hardware... it show a good picture...but, the discription of the parts are not too good...
Most of the time you will find the two flat plates that attach the push pull rod to the bell crank is the problem... here these just egg the holes out... the bell crank has needle bearings in it... so it hardly wears out .... it only will do it.... IF ITS IS NOT LUBED... Hmmmmmmm.... and the U channel is again not the problem most of the time... so that leaves the little plates on each side... which are really cheep... but, the bear directly on the bolt... and as such have a high wear rate... again if ITS NOT LUBED REGULARY.....
to get the in and out... use small fingers... smile... check the whole system for wear and play by grabbing the rear of the elevator.. and holding firm... keep it level like its in flight and then try and move the trim tab up and down...noting the amount of play from one position to the other... if its close to 1/4 inch... time to see your mechanic... and show him this posting... Hope this helps... GMAs...
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