Originally Posted by
HarryMann
MWR ... If you are in any way correct, this implies a really poor original design... a prime goal in mechanical components design just as important as stessing and robustness is clarity of assembly whilst minimising potential for mis-assembly...
e.g. all bolts in a locality doing much the same job being of the same length, usually arranged by say stepping a casting thickness .. EVEN IF IT COSTS WEIGHT..
Totally agree, I sincerely hope that my conjecture on misplaced washer is way off. I mentioned it only because at least as presented in the AD it is hard to see how both the split pin and lockwire could be missing without being noticed and was pondering what else could be mi-assembled.
GeordiMike also responded that lack of washer would likely affect the centering of the control system enough that it would at least be noticed if not totally unserviceable.
(My thoughts based on his feedback)
Again most likely they suspect something in that mechanism but do not know (or cannot say with certainty) exactly what so the goal is to have it looked at for anything suspicious.