bottom rudder fairing / tailwheel interference

[High_Flyer]

Good morning,
a good friend of mine has built a beautiful RV-7 last year.
But he has a small problem: he operates from a grass strip and with the bumps the top of the tailwheel assembly hits the bottom of the lower rudder fairing.





I'm working on my fairings now so I'm very interested on a solution to this problem.

What have you done to solve this issue?

Thank you.

[MikeyDale]

I have not had any problems and I fly from a grass strip. Maybe he needed to trim the bottom rudder fairing up higher to provide more clearance. Mine has 2.2 inches of clearance from the top of the tailwheel nut to the bottom of the rudder fairing.

[Bud K]

High Flyer, I have the same damage to my rudder fairing. I operate off a rough, short grass strip and I know that the damage is due to my short, soft field landing technique. I occasionally catch myself touching tailwheel first in a 3 point stance.

[Sylvainsting]

Hello,

Pics in the first post were mine. I measured the gap between the nut and the bottom fairing and I had only 1,9".
So the only solution I founded has been to create a way for the nut in the rudder fairing. I join some pics to explain. I have now a gap of 2,4". I think it is enough for all the bumpy grass runways I'll experiment..

Sylvain

[bill v]

I am still building but have less then two inches and was hoping someone would post what was needed.

[N941WR]

I simply trimmed the forward section of the rudder, leaving the aft end full length. 770 hours later I still haven't damaged the rudder bottom and I live on a grass strip.


(Click to enlarge)