Tail wheel: Broke my WD-101

[spatsch]

Yesterday I moved my RV-8 from NJ to it?s new home at North Texas Regional airport. My new hangar has a hump at the entrance and the steel plates I use to smooth that out are still in NJ. I pushed it over that hump and the tail wheel broke of on the weld of the WD-101 (it?s the part that has the bushing in it and attaches to the tail spring). Lucky it didn?t hit the ruder or the fuselage and cause any other damage.

Thought no big deal let?s just order one from Van?s and replace it, however, when I checked their on line store I couldn?t find a WD-101. I could find a full tail wheel assembly and other tail wheel parts (e.g. WD-102) but no WD-101 even looking at the list.

Did others have the same problem and what did they do?

Also do they come predrilled? I think the one in my quick build kit was predrilled which makes installation a heck lot easier.

Thx

Oliver

[SmilingJack]

https://www.flyboyaccessories.com/Sc...ket-p/1103.htm

[N941WR]

You are lucky that's all that happened.

May I suggest you upgrade to a Doug Bell tailwheel fork?

https://www.flyboyaccessories.com/category-s/29.htm

[Pilot135pd]

Originally Posted by spatsch

... I pushed it over that hump and the tail wheel broke of on the weld of the WD-101 (it?s the part that has the bushing in it and attaches to the tail spring)....

What am I missing here? I think it was a good thing that it happened. How secure was that metal piece to begin with if you broke it while pushing your plane over a hump? I'm sure landing puts more pressure on it and if you had broken it during landing it could have been disastrous for the plane.

[spatsch]

Originally Posted by Pilot135pd

What am I missing here? I think it was a good thing that it happened. How secure was that metal piece to begin with if you broke it while pushing your plane over a hump? I'm sure landing puts more pressure on it and if you had broken it during landing it could have been disastrous for the plane.

That I can’t find it in the Van’s store. First time I can’t find a part I need which is somewhat surprising to me. So I was wondering if I am just not smart enough to find it or if they really don’t sell it independently.

And yes it was good that it broke in my hangar rather then at a random airport... .

Oliver

[spatsch]

Originally Posted by SmilingJack

https://www.flyboyaccessories.com/Sc...ket-p/1103.htm

Yes that?s it. That one doesn?t seem to be predrilled though and all my tools are still in NJ .... .

Oliver

[Pilot135pd]

Originally Posted by spatsch

...And yes it was good that it broke in my hangar rather then at a random airport... .

Oliver

I'm not worried that you can't find a part on Van's website, I think the search function on that site could be a lot better.

I'm surprised that nobody has said anything about a part that just broke while pushing the plane around. Isn't this a part that's supposed to be so strong it won't break every time we land but it broke when you moved the plane or is this a common occurrence?

[spatsch]

Originally Posted by Pilot135pd

I'm not worried that you can't find a part on Van's website, I think the search function on that site could be a lot better.

I'm surprised that nobody has said anything about a part that just broke while pushing the plane around. Isn't this a part that's supposed to so strong it won't break every time we land but it broke when you moved the plane or is this a common occurrence?

Don?t know about that. Mine has about 500hours on it and I landed in some pretty rough fields before and never had an issue..... .

Oliver

[bjdecker]

Try "FSTW-W/O SPRING"

You may need to call them and verify that this indeed just the WD-101.

Cheers,

[bjdecker]

Or try one of these --

https://www.jdair.com/tailwheel-yoke...r-other-forks/

or, upgrade the whole kit+kaboodle to:

https://www.jdair.com/complete-tailw...ith-tail-link/