Tip: Tail wheel Spring Attach Points

[Steve Sampson]

Paul, many thanks! Steve.

[N941WR]

Paul,

I also put an eye-Bolt on the TW arm. This does two things, first it raises the tail spring a little so it feels more direct because of the reduced angle and second, it is easy to replace should it start to wear.

Here's a picture from my web site:

[Steve Sampson]

Bill, is that an AN115-21 shackle also?

Also, I cant be sure from the picture. Is the eyebolt bolted up firm, or allowed to swivle with a cotter pin?

Thanks, Steve.

[N941WR]

Just reporting in...

With 250 hours on the plane, the eye bolts on the bottom of the rudder horn are showing noticable wear and will be replaced. Better a $4 part than rebuilding the rudder bottom. The eye bolts and shackles on the tail wheel stearing arm look fine.

Originally Posted by Steve Sampson

Bill, is that an AN115-21 shackle also?

Also, I cant be sure from the picture. Is the eyebolt bolted up firm, or allowed to swivle with a cotter pin?

Thanks, Steve.

Steve,

I just found your question when I dug up this old thread. Here is a list of parts I used.

Eye Bold Drilled AN42B-5, Cable Shackles AN115-21, Bolt AN3-6 (Drilled shank), Washer AN960-10, Castle nut AN310-3, Cotter pins as needed.

The eye bolts are held in place with an AN3 nyloc nut and torqued to spec. The bolts holding the shackle in place are secured with castle nuts, allowing the shackle to move up and down. The shackle will allow the spring to move left and right.

I did not use a shackle on the eye bolt inserted on the rudder bottom. The steel chain clip worked well enough. It is this eye bolt that is starting to show some signs of wear.

[humptybump]

The builder of my RV-8 used the eye-bolts. However, on a recent landing, one of the tailwheel spring clips took a holiday to some private and secluded island, with no forwarding address.

Following Paul's lead, I replaced the absent clip and its partner with 3/16" D shackles.