I would say a problem is absolutely the pivot angle. It should be / not \
Think about a shopping cart - do you know why the wheels on some shimmy like your tailwheel? They have been banged into curbs and what not and bent backwards like \
I have straightened more than a dozen aircraft tail wheels that do have the shimmy.
Yours might be masked by the tight springs acting as a dampener.
When I rebuilt a pitts special - the design specified that a link on each side needed to be able to be turned 90 degrees before tension on the spring. What this allowed is the tail to track differently than the rudder.
If one was to land with a cross wind in a slight crab - tail turned a bit... if doing a 3 pointer, you would shoot off to the landing light in microseconds if the wheel was not allowed to move differently from the rudder.
I guess if it works for you and you feel it is right - keep it.
M.
From: KRnet <krnet-boun...@list.krnet.org> on behalf of Flesner via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2023 8:32 PM
To: krnet@list.krnet.org <krnet@list.krnet.org>
Cc: Flesner <fles...@frontier.com>
Subject: Re: KRnet> flight report 211LF
Two things:
General consensus is the angle of my tailwheel pivot is wrong and susceptible to shimmy. That may be correct but I've never had a problem. Those springs are Maule anti-shimmy springs. Not sure if they are needed or not. Yes, the springs are each different.
Second, notice my rudder horn is doubled. All my cable attach points are in double shear. I was especially concerned with the elevator horn and doubled it as one of the few control system failures I'm aware of in a KR was a broken elevator horn and there is no good ending if that happens.
Larry Flesner
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