Rudder pedal boots

[Grant_Waite]

All 4 of my rudder pedal boots have holes around the bottom sides and are falling apart. Has anyone replaced their’s before? How did you go about doing it? I sent Hector at Aerocomfort an email, since it says he can make new ones? Lasar has boots or use to for 51 a piece but they’re out of stock. 

 

 

 

[Slick Nick]

I need some new ones myself!

[KSMooniac]

I bought Aero Comfort boots about 10 years ago and replaced mine. That area can be a path for CO so it is a good idea to replace them.

I'm bigger than average and it was a PITA to do the work in the foot wells. You'll need a good #1 Phillips screwdriver or bit and a lot of patience.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

[Grant_Waite]

1 hour ago, KSMooniac said:

I bought Aero Comfort boots about 10 years ago and replaced mine. That area can be a path for CO so it is a good idea to replace them.

I'm bigger than average and it was a PITA to do the work in the foot wells. You'll need a good #1 Phillips screwdriver or bit and a lot of patience.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, I’m chasing a co leak right now. Do the boots just slide around the pedals and then get a little needle or something to hold them together? It seems that sliding them overtop of the pedals would be impossible. Mine seem to have a little piece of leather tied around the pedals, to close the opening off. Also what kind of glue did you use to seal the boots to the bottom of the metal plate? 

[KSMooniac]

The replacements had a Velcro seam fortunately, so you just need to wrap them around. I don't remember using adhesive on the floor... I think there is an aluminum retainer and tiny screws, and then duct tape over the top.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

[Grant_Waite]

56 minutes ago, KSMooniac said:

The replacements had a Velcro seam fortunately, so you just need to wrap them around. I don't remember using adhesive on the floor... I think there is an aluminum retainer and tiny screws, and then duct tape over the top.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk
 

Hector said, he has 2 types Velcro and the sewn ones. Did you find the sewn ones to do a good job at sealing the pedals up? 

[KSMooniac]

I didn't have a problem with the originals in terms of CO, but I never measured anything unless my door was open on the ground either.  My originals were half-rotted, so I replaced them while I was converting my plane from the throttle quadrant to linear controls, which require a full console- and nose-wheel-well-ectomy.  I noticed the poor condition and decided to replace with the velcro option.

[Grant_Waite]

4 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

I didn't have a problem with the originals in terms of CO, but I never measured anything unless my door was open on the ground either.  My originals were half-rotted, so I replaced them while I was converting my plane from the throttle quadrant to linear controls, which require a full console- and nose-wheel-well-ectomy.  I noticed the poor condition and decided to replace with the velcro option.

After talking with Hector I went with the velcro ones, as we both agreed it’d be near impossible to install the stitched ones without removing linkages to the rudder pedals themselves. It cost me $125 for 4 boots with shipping and credit card fee it came to like $150. Still way less than if Lasar had their’s in stock. 

Ah, okay I believe I remember reading about your post or another Ms member that did the wheel well ectomy. I hate the throttle quadrant but I know it makes 0 financial sense to change it, knowing how much is involved. I’m sure parts are only available from a salvaged plane. I did however get custom knobs made and powder coated them for all 3 levers. Freshened up the quadrant nicely. I also cerakoted the levers in places with an air brush, and that stuff is never coming off. 
 

[KSMooniac]

yes, I believe I'm (so far) the only one crazy enough to execute that... it makes no financial sense whatsoever, but for my forever plane and valuing my labor at $0/hr I convinced myself it was worth it.  I had a complete salvage plane to source parts, and more importantly, provide patterns, to make the transplant.  I estimate I had ~150 hours of effort in that project, so it is not for the faint of heart.  I installed new engine control cables and am very happy with the transformation.

Your quadrant looks fantastic after the attention!

[KSMooniac]

Do you have a full panel pic?  I'd love to see it.

[Grant_Waite]

16 minutes ago, KSMooniac said:

Do you have a full panel pic?  I'd love to see it.

 

19 minutes ago, KSMooniac said:

yes, I believe I'm (so far) the only one crazy enough to execute that... it makes no financial sense whatsoever, but for my forever plane and valuing my labor at $0/hr I convinced myself it was worth it.  I had a complete salvage plane to source parts, and more importantly, provide patterns, to make the transplant.  I estimate I had ~150 hours of effort in that project, so it is not for the faint of heart.  I installed new engine control cables and am very happy with the transformation.

Your quadrant looks fantastic after the attention!

Yeah, I wouldn’t be willing to or have the means to take it on myself so the labor rate would be somewhere in the 20k range near me. Not to mention acquiring all the parts and the unknowns about it. I can’t imagine the struggle and headaches. But I completely understand since it’s your forever plane. This is my now and probably for a long while plane, but I don’t believe my forever plane… but who knows. It’s a nicely equipped panel. My Stec will hold altitude but I have to trim it myself or set the vs to 0 before I engage altitude hold, or else it’ll porpoise. I have rudder trim but it still doesn’t work after they reinstalled it at annual. I know both can be fixed but haven’t had the time or money to dedicate to it yet. And yes, I installed the green led lights, I think it looks cooler than red. 

[KSMooniac]

Very clean and tidy!  I don't see a transponder... can the 650 control one remotely?  I thought only a 750 could do so.  Did you change the Klixon cb/switches to the ETA versions?  I like the vertical annunciator lights too.

I'm still waffling on my eventual panel upgrade and love seeing other layouts.  

[Grant_Waite]

4 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Very clean and tidy!  I don't see a transponder... can the 650 control one remotely?  I thought only a 750 could do so.  Did you change the Klixon cb/switches to the ETA versions?  I like the vertical annunciator lights too.

I'm still waffling on my eventual panel upgrade and love seeing other layouts.  

I bought the plane form the previous owner like it was, just making it my own. Him and I are still good friends and keep in touch, it’s not your typical relationship of a seller and buyer which is nice. Yes, it has a remote transponder you can see the screws on right hand side above the autopilot decals, that’s where the remote transponder is. He at one point did change all the switch caps, not the switches themselves I believe. Back when Lasar or Mooney had caps. If I had to do it over, I’d change the switches completely, go all glass and dump all my old analog instruments. I surely wouldn’t get a 55x albeit they are much better than what came from the factory, just seem have some issues that Garmin and hopefully the new dynon won’t. For whatever reasons all the labels on the panel are stickers not engraved, which I think makes it look less clean. I also would have just gone to a jpi930 to get rid of the old factory gauges, I don’t even look any them except the fuel indicators. It didn’t come with the Jpi oil pressure transducer installed, so I had to install that. You can PM with any more questions, I’d be glad to answer any of them. 

[dkkim73]

I think that looks remarkably clean and sharp! 

Curious about the green night lighting. I'd read different things about yellow green vs red for night vision, arguments about not interfering vs. Being noticeable, different arguments for cars vs. Aviation, etc. eg BMW Amber lighting in the 70s. 

Curious if it was a detailed decision or simply a preference in the end? 

[Grant_Waite]

1 hour ago, dkkim73 said:

I think that looks remarkably clean and sharp! 

Curious about the green night lighting. I'd read different things about yellow green vs red for night vision, arguments about not interfering vs. Being noticeable, different arguments for cars vs. Aviation, etc. eg BMW Amber lighting in the 70s. 

Curious if it was a detailed decision or simply a preference in the end? 

I had bought one of every single color light from  https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/1816

I believe those were the type of bulbs. I decided that I liked the green the best one, after flying at night and having the cockpit look like a Christmas tree. I chose it for esthetics mainly, I did I little reading into it. If I remember correctly green does keep your night version over just bright white per say. I had them cranked all the way to full bright for that picture. They definitely don’t need to be bright to see at all. I noticed with the leds and the rheostat that at low brightness, the leds will flicker some. I don’t do much if any night flying due to just the added risk. My biggest fear is not seeing where I can put it down if I have an emergency. I’m the type to have all my glass backlighting cranked all the way to max 24/7 so I rarely use the glare shield lights. I could see them being useless for old steam gauges, without lights or looking for something in the cockpit. 

[dkkim73]

I had been looking to add a little timer as well (I know there's one on the G1000, also Foreflight, etc; want something more direct). 

I just noticed that old-school stopwatch on the yoke. How do you like it? I was going to find a backlit kitchen timer or something and velcro it to the panel, but I really like big analog outputs. Would be nice to find one with illumination (3H), harder to find these days. 

[Grant_Waite]

1 hour ago, dkkim73 said:

I had been looking to add a little timer as well (I know there's one on the G1000, also Foreflight, etc; want something more direct). 

I just noticed that old-school stopwatch on the yoke. How do you like it? I was going to find a backlit kitchen timer or something and velcro it to the panel, but I really like big analog outputs. Would be nice to find one with illumination (3H), harder to find these days. 

The previous owner asked if he could have it back and I told him yeah. I believe it didn’t work either. He had it attached with Velcro and it wasn’t going anywhere. I use the built in Davtron that’s on the far left side, right above the rpm gauge. I start the timer on it as soon as the engine is started, I just built it into my after start flow. I use it to determine when to change tanks, and my old fuel gauges which seem to be quite accurate… so long as there’s more than 10gals a side left. I also got rid of the Garmin mounted gps thing on the yoke. Being only 5’5 5’6, I sit so close to the yoke so I can press the brakes fully. Rudder pedal extensions would be nice just a bit pricey for the 3in ones.