The tube of the weldment of the pilot control stick was warped or something, meaning the bushing that Van's sent wobbled in it and caused the stick to have a lot of slop. Someone on VAF offered to machine a new bushing for me, so I sent them the measurements for a slightly larger diameter bushing. I bought a 0.38" reamer and opened up the weldment just enough to have a nice slip fit for the bushing. I also had the bushing made slightly longer than the original, with the intent of putting a thin washer on one end to allow the weldment to snug up against the other control bracket weldment (taking out the slop along the length of the bolt).
This bushing made a huge difference and took out all of the slop. After installing everything, the next step was to connect the lower control arm that ties the two sticks together. This required about 100 slight adjustments to the pushrod bearings on either end to get the two sticks parallel to each other.
Once I was done, I took a step back to admire my work...and realized that the sticks really didn't look like they were the same length! When I cut them to fit the grips, I cut the same amount off of each one (I think...). Whether I made a mistake or the sticks weren't the same length to begin with, the bottom line was the pilot stick needed another 5/8" taken off. I undid all of my fine work and pulled the stick back out, chopped the 5/8" off (after measuring a few dozen times) and reinstalled everything.
The roll trim uses a spring that connects to the stick weldments. I put those in place when I bolted the control arm in place. I aligned them to the arm on the trim servo, but won't actually connect them (with safety wire) until the aileron pushrods are in place and I can see the neutral position.
