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I dont know why that picture came out sideways? But anyways here is my new tailspring from Airframes Alaska. I flew down to Clayton's place yesterday, and he very kindly helped me put it on. We even removed the wheel itself and took it apart, cleaned and regreased it. I learned a lot. Thanks again Clayton, and also to all of the advice on this thread.
i can say that with the new spring taxiing is dramatically improved. I have to learn how to taxi with responsive steering! I found myself over steering because I had to lead turns so much with my old spring to get any response, now I barely have to lead my turns! I only had time to do one landing but it did not shimmy, and it felt really solid. So far I am really liking my new spring. Thanks again to everyone!
"I flew down to Clayton's place yesterday, and he very kindly helped me put it on. We even removed the wheel itself and took it apart, cleaned and regreased it. I learned a lot." The credit goes to Steve P.. He show me a couple of weeks ago and I showed Patrick. Isn't that wonderful how that works.
I taxied my Pacer today. I already like the tailwheel better! Positive control and breaks out very nicely. Besides the re-arching of the leaves I removed two of the five compression springs as is allowed, it works the way I thought it should work. It was a real bugger to break out previously.I don't notice a difference in the view out the front but I haven't looked at anything besides a hangar door out the windscreen for two years!
The jury is still out on the pawl, I have the short one as originally equipped. If I find myself in spots where the earlier breakout would be beneficial I'll consider swapping it out.
Jim
1957 PA-22/20 "Super Pacer" based 1H0
Lifetime EAA member
Vintage Aircraft Association member
Lifetime EAA Chapter 32 member
Mine is taxiing great with the short pawl. It seems really snappy compared to how it was before. I can't imagine how snappy it would feel with the long pawl!
I have had a tailwheel shimmy that is just getting worse. I have read Steve's thoughts on spring arch and castor angle (Thank you Steve) and wonder if it is time for me to re-arch my springs. I can also feel play somewhere in the tail wheel assembly if I give it a good shake (Scott 3200), so I will go through the tailwheel as well.
Can anyone tell from this picture if the castor angle is incorrect?
Youre already shimmed a lot, look at the angle from the main tailwheel bolt to the aft mount, makes me wonder how much sheer the main bolt will take before it cuts in half? The spring should be almost flush with no down angle at the main bolt. I think you should invest 200 bucks in the spring linked below.
Rich,
Plus one for what Semper Fi stated. Either re-arch or get a new spring to get the angles correct without all the shims
When you order parts, make sure you replace the mounting bolts, too. BTW...It looks like the mounting bolts for the spring and tailwheel are too short, as there appears to be no threads protruding from the nuts. It is a perfect time to replace all of those bits, and it is is cheap money for such an important system. Also, if your rudder arms are not already severely worn, you should also install the eye bolts to keep the springs from doing additional damage to the cast aluminum.
Some you have researched all the data on this site, you should have a pretty good idea of what to look for. Additionally, you are correct to be disassembling the tailwheel for a close inspection. Don't forget to also inspect the dust seals, as they keep the dirt out and the grease in.
Last edited by pa20; 06-22-2015 at 10:17 AM.
Reason: Took a second look at the photo!
Once you fix your picture, the caster angle doesn't look too negative, but if you are getting a shimmy than I would order the new spring.. less than $195. for the new spring from http://www.airframesalaska.com/
The pictures I linked to below arn't all SWP but if you notice the angle that the spring is mounted to the plane looks much nicer to me, I started shimming my tailwheel at the aft mount like yours is to raise the caster angle so it was postive and did not like how the front main bolt was not lined up with the hole in the tailwheel with the shims in... it was scraping the bolt.. cutting into it.
These are images I found on google, I like that the tailwheel is mounting almost flush with the plane, no angle and no cutting into the bolt that holds the tailwheel on http://www.shortwingpipers.org/forum...6&d=1432217729
Once you fix your picture, the caster angle doesn't look too negative, but if you are getting a shimmy than I would order the new spring.. less than $195. for the new spring from http://www.airframesalaska.com/
In this case, I think that there is more to the story than one can glean from a single photo. I noted that spring for the PA-18 is only a 3-leaf spring. Is it an 1.5" spring? He currently has a 4-leaf spring, but if it is the 1.25" spring that could be the reason it is losing the arch.