Tailwheel steering issue

jbDC9 · #1 11-09-2012, 10:21 AM

So my tailwheel steering is starting to get a bit funky. I've got the Bell fork and and 985 hrs TT on the ship; I'm on a regular schedule of every 75-100 hrs pull the fork to clean and relube everything, plus the occasional file or sandpaper on the pin to keep the burrs and snags away. I'm wondering though, if the spring under the pin can wear our or get soft?

The funkiness shows up while taxiing when I press left rudder; I get initial steering feedback, then click, it feels like the pin has retracted and I'm in full swivel mode. Pushing right rudder is fine, plenty of steering feel/feedback and the pin seems to hold properly. Any ideas? Would a new spring/pin assembly help? I will try to polish and smooth out the groove where the pin rides at extension, but I'm open to suggestions...

Thanks!

JonJay · #2 11-09-2012, 11:21 AM

Service it every 25 hours.

jbDC9 · #3 11-09-2012, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonJay

Service it every 25 hours.

Oops; I guess I should have mentioned this behavior was happening with 1-2 hours after a clean/polish/lube on the pin.

billgill · #4 11-09-2012, 12:33 PM

is likely worn out. I'm on my 3rd steering arm after 1300 hours. Vince's arm has a slightly deeper slot in the arm and that solved the problem.

On another subject, I have "slop" where the pin rests inside the slot in the Bell fork. It looks like the pin is wallering out the slot.

Bill

Neal@F14 · #5 11-09-2012, 12:40 PM

You might just need to file the slot in the arm a little deeper and dress the end of the pin to the blunt squared-off shape that's shown in Vince Frazier's website document.
http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/sto...roducts_id=383

We had issues with the tailwheel unlocking and not re-locking like it should in my friend's RV-8 (newly-built aircraft) and once I reshaped the pin and filed the arm's slot a little bit deeper, it's been working great for a couple years now.

JonJay · #6 11-09-2012, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billgill

is likely worn out. I'm on my 3rd steering arm after 1300 hours. Vince's arm has a slightly deeper slot in the arm and that solved the problem.

On another subject, I have "slop" where the pin rests inside the slot in the Bell fork. It looks like the pin is wallering out the slot.

Bill

Wow - I am still on my first arm at over 500 hours. Looks like new. 400 hours with the Bell fork.

jbDC9 · #7 11-09-2012, 02:44 PM

Excellent; good stuff for me to check out. I usually focus on the pin... hadn't thought to check the slot in the steering arm, duhhh.

Larco · #8 11-09-2012, 04:03 PM

As others have posted we have fixed several including mine by increasing the depth of the slot in the arm. Larry

Ironflight · #9 11-09-2012, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbDC9

Excellent; good stuff for me to check out. I usually focus on the pin... hadn't thought to check the slot in the steering arm, duhhh.

I went through a couple of control arms before I switched to those from JDAIR - they seem to be harder, and the slot doesn't wear out as quickly. Look at the corners of the opening end of the slot for wear John - if you see any, that is a contributing factor.

vfrazier · #10 11-10-2012, 10:07 PM

Indeed we do cut our control arm notch a bit deeper than Van's does. And we changed the profile of the pin, as stated earlier, to give more edge to contact the control arm notch.

There is a LOT going on with the tailwheel. More than I can possibly type up here. I do recommend everyone getting a copy of our tailwheel tech sheets I think we've got a bit of info in them for most common problems. And it's free for the asking with no strings attached whatsoever.

One problem that no one has mentioned yet is that the Van's fork has a longer arm between the vertical pivot and the tire axle than the Bell fork or our Screaming Eagle fork do. That makes the Van's fork put a lot more load on the control arm and the locking pin, thus wearing them out. Actually, damaging them out might be a better description in many cases.

(The longer arm, and other geometry, of the Van's fork also make it steer harder and snag more obstacles, but that isn't really the topic we're discussing here.)

This will sound like a sales pitch, sorry for that, but I suspect that if there was a way to survey the folks who are using our fork and our control arm, you'd find very few locking problems. Doug Bell's fork should be similar if used with a control arm with a deepened notch.

IMHO, hardening parts isn't necessary when the parts are designed optimally as a complete system. You can do it if you like, but it's just masking the problem.

http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/sto...index&cPath=66