Tail wheel: Broke my WD-101

[David Paule]

There are a few threads about drilling the fitting to match the spring. A friend of mine did it so I know it can be done.

Dave

[Carlos151]

Might want to consider an upgrade to the tailwheel at this point. The Screaming Eagle fork comes with a built in angle that?ll help your tailwheel get over any bumps without causing damage to the tail spring or lower empennage. Vans stock fork is at a 90 degree angle so if it runs into anything or drops in a rut, it hits with a sudden jolt causing damage to the tailwheel if you?re lucky and to the lower empennage if you?re not.

Pair it with the Lightweight Tailwheel Tire with sealed bearings and now you don?t have to worry about any bumps. The Vans stock wheel has a grease fitting but unless you modify a grease gun, good luck lubing it.

Not associated with Flyboy but I have been using this combo on grass for some time and have been very happy with its quality and performance.

[Northernliving]

Originally Posted by 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

I have a stock Van's RV8 tail wheel if you want it for the cost to ship it, let me know. Has about 100 hours on it and is stripped down to bare metal. Send me an EMAIL by clicking on my username if interested.

[spatsch]

Thx for all the advice. Did decide to do an upgrade and JD Airparts has already shipped.

Thx

Oliver

[wnplt]

I have JD its awesome

[spatsch]

Figured I post an update on this. I installed the JD part and it looks pretty nice.

I also took the broken part to a friend who is a mechanical engineer to get some opinion on why it failed.

So he pointed out that the lower part (the one which will be stressed in pull on landing) must have had a progressing crack in it for a while. There was dirt on the crack surface which couldn?t have gotten there if the crack was new. That crack was at the toe of the weld which is the most likely place for a crack.

The top part of the weld though (the one which will be stressed in pull pushing the airplane back which is when it broke) had a fresh crack in it. That part cracked right through the center of the weld which is rather unusual.

Anyway I didn?t see any cracks on that weld at my last annual inspection but this might be a good reminder for others to check. If it wouldn?t have broken in the hangar it?s pretty sure the lower crack would have progressed and it would have failed on landing at one point.

Oliver