Bill mentioned again that he experiences stiff ailerons when flying at
cruise.  He refers to using gap tape to try and fix this.  I have little
knowledge about this, but will relate again our experiences with stiff
ailerons.

We had stiff ailerons which caused lots of problems with getting our STec55
working properly, but found our problem was that as the cabin pressurized,
it deformed just enough to increase the pressure on the fore and aft hinge
of the control rod.  Bud Clarke of AirRyder (Helena, Montana) worked with us
when he was up for a visit and together we got the problem defeated.  Bottom
line, unless there is sufficient play in your control rods, when
pressuriztion occurs, the cabin will bulge out slightly and THIS COULD be
the cause of the stiff ailerons in many of our planes.

I was told over and over that the stiff controls were due to the high speed
of flight, and with no objective manner of measuring how stiff stiff really
is, I suggest the following test.  Fly your IV-P at 8K - 10K first without
the door seal inflated, and pressurization rate to the lowest to ensure
there is no pressurization.  PSI on your pressure guage should read Zero.
Feel the controls at various speeds (say down to 120 from 200 KIAS with 10
KIAS intervals) and then when going slow, inflate your door, turn up the
pressurization rate control, (you want at least a PSI of 2.0 and hopefully
more) and increase speed by 10 KIAS intervals, making a turn each way at
each interval.  Rate the stick force required (make sure you use the same
place on the stick to avoid experimental error) and if at one point the
controls get a lot stiffer, I would suggest you consider calling Bud Clarke
to help you get your problem fixed.  That is what worked for us, and while
we did a number of other small adjustments, none of them were as dramatic as
loosening the controls so they did not bind as the cabin pressurized.

Gerry Leinweber
C-GLFP 150 Hours and happy with my AutoPilot now