• Become a Subscribing Member today!

    The Biplane Forum is a large global active community of biplane builders, owners and pilots. From Pitts to Skybolts, to older barnstormers, all types are welcome.

    The Biplane Forum is a private community. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched source of information not found anywhere else on the web.

    Why become a Subscribing Member?

    • In addition to our active community, our content boasts exhaustive technical information which is often sought after for projects and maintenance. This information has accumulated over the 12+ years the forum has been in existence.
    • We are also a great resource for non biplane users, since many GA aircraft are built the same way (fabric and tube construction).
    • Annual membership also comes with two BiplaneForum.com decals.

    Become a Subscribing Member and access the Biplane Forum in full!

    Subscribe Now

Tailwheels

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gha111

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
*
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
257
Reaction score
84
As important as a tailwheel is to the handling of a taildragger, you would think there would be consensus as to how they should be configured. I've just painted the fuselage on my rebuild of a AS1 and have started to put things back together. I have bought a Matco, full swivel wheel because the previous wheel, which steered great, only turned 90 degrees, so if you wanted to push the plane backwards, you had to pick up the tail. Installing the Matco, I notice the spring/chain attach holes are 7" apart, about 1 1/2" wider than the old wheel. The plans for the AS1 call for the rudder arm of just over 5", which means that the chains and springs are no longer almost parallel. Now for full rudder displacement the tailwheel only moves a little over half as much. In looking at other planes, I notice that a Champ and 2 Starduster 1's have the opposite ratio. The rudder arm holes are 8" apart and the tailwheel is only 6". That means the wheel is going to move a lot more for any given amount of rudder movement. I haven't flown a Starduster but that Champ is one touchy mother while using the rudder on taxi and rollout. I would guess that would be true of the Stardusters too. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? There even seems to be a BIG disagreement on which way the wheel post is to be set. Some say the top of the post has to be raked aft to prevent shimmy, but I've read in some books that the post has to be raked forward. Neil...are you still there? Garry
 

Latest posts

Back
Top