August 3, 2023
Note: My tail wheel, spring, and attachment to the tail cone are of my own specification and are NOT as per the manual. Design parameters are intended to make field repair or replacement easier if away from home base. My drawings will be attached for clarity.
As result of my taxi testing and test flight I have decided to change my tailwheel configuration. There are a few things that I want to improve, 1- the tail sits to low causing poor forward visibility and I would like to raise it, 2- My original spring (single trailer leaf) was too short, 3- I didn't like the alignment of the tailwheel steering link and chains to the rudder pivot, 4- I can afford to add a bit of weight to the tail as my test flight indicated a bit nose heavy and would not allow hands off trim for level flight (single pilot and 3/4 fuel). I will experiment with carrying some weight in the baggage compartment on next flight.
Overview: A rectangular steel tube was made in a bent leg shape to attach to the bottom of tail, a flox bed was formed to mate the metal leg to the tail. A trailer leaf spring (new) 1.75x5/16 thick is disassembled so one, two or three leafs can be used as the spring. A Matco tailwheel is bolted to the trailing end of the leaf spring. The new tail spring leaf is 9.25 inches longer than the original I built.
