Silver Bullet steering link - finally broken

[chrispratt]

Well it finally happened. Only took eleven years but my Silver Bullet tail wheel steering arm finally bit the dust. It happened as I landed at our wonderfully smooth (sarcasm here) runway/and taxiway at 52F. Sure hope this pile of rocks get paved soon.

Here?s a full view of what I am talking about for those unfamiliar with the steering linkage on the RV-8.



Here?s the forward most end of the installation still in good shape.



Here?s a view of the aft end nearest the actual tailwheel. It seems that this is a typical example of the failure point on these units. The remainder of the threaded bolt is still inside the linkage so it sheared at the point where the bolt and stop nut meet the body of the link.



NOTE: The broken unit is the original Silver Bullet installed 11 years ago. I always carry a spare and it took just five minutes to replace it.

The indication I had an issue was that I suddenly needed to use a lot of brake pressure (left and right as appropriate) where I usually need just a light tap on the brake.

I know you can buy a new, improved version of this unit at one of Uncle Doug Reeves' advertisers -- JDair.com. There may be others. In my opinion, the Silver Bullet or its new equivalent is a great addition to an RV; tail wheel response is much more precise than with the standard chains setup.

Chris

[Ironflight]

All three of our RV's have the Silver Bullet, and over the years, I have broken a couple of rod end bearings. Never had one break of flush with teh silver bullet end like that, so it has been easy to replace the bearing and put them back in service. Hopefully, you can drill that out and put this back in to your "spares" category.

The times I have broken them I never knew it happened until I was out of the airplane and walking around - total non-events.

If one of the Silver Bullets ever fails so I can't fix it, the modern equivalents that ARE available will be great replacements.

Paul