Thanks for all your input guys.
Last night I opened the sides of the covering - (much wailing and nashing of the teeth I might add) removed the pushrods and re-ran them in a straighter line. I removed the nylon tubes and drilled a new 1/8" hole through the aft pushrod exit forward through the bulkhead towards the servo area. Had to use a 5" long drill, but it did the trick I guess. The friction is significantly less. I am not sure if the original configuration would have worked, but at least now it has a better chance.
I wonder how the original configuration would have worked. According to the plans, the pushrods are run with a much smaller curve. When I laid the pushrod over the plans and followed the curve, there was significant friction and binding when I tried to move the wire within the tube. I cleaned the wire, and made sure the surface was polished, but the binding was still significant.
I wonder what the advantages of this type of pushrod system are? Intuitively, I would have thought that it would allow the path of the pushrod to follow some arbitrary curve, but this does not seem to be the case. If the wire is too flexible, it would only properly work in tension, and would buckle when compressed. Should I have substituted a smaller gauge wire? Was I missing a step?


Troubled in Toronto