[Bwing96]

How much difference will 7 more ounces make by adding the Bell fork?
My soon to be new to me -6 has a Van's tail wheel with fairing. Doug Bell said they weighed both with the bolts but less the wheel and the Bell was 7 ounces more. I would have to weigh the fairing and subtract that amount from the 7 ounces to see what the exact difference would be for my plane.

Just wonder how much effect a few ounces back there is going to have on handling? I have read all the posts I could find and ereyone that has made this change seemed to really like it.

 

[Sam Buchanan]

Just wonder how much effect a few ounces back there is going to have on handling? I have read all the posts I could find and ereyone that has made this change seemed to really like it.

So what are you asking?

Enjoy your new plane!

 

[N941WR]

It isn't so much about the weight of the TW fork but allowing the TW to ride up and over things rather than getting hooked and damaging the plane.

 

[Bwing96]

Tail wheel fork

Just curious if it would make the tail feel more heavy when slow or if it would make the elevator feel more sensitive.

 

[N941WR]

I doubt you would even notice it.

Not a single person on this forum has talked about feeling the extra weight back there.

I started with the Bell TW fork and never flew with the Van's fork.

You can always buy a DJM tail wheel, which is lighter than stock and has sealed bearings. That will help balance things out a little bit.

 

[flynwest]

tail wheel weight

If you are worried get one of Dayton Murdocks light tail wheels. It's alot lighter than the original.

 

[N941WR]

If you are worried get one of Dayton Murdocks light tail wheels. It's alot lighter than the original.

DJM = Dayton J. Murdock

Dayton is the same guy who makes the throttle quadrants and one smoken' fast RV-4.

Here is a picture of mine, after 250 hours. I measured the wear for Dayton, that's why the tape measure is in the picture. (It has warn an 1/8 of an inch, flying off of pavement.)

Notice the lightening slots and sealed bearings. Every annual I simply clean it and put it back on.

 

[Snowflake]

You'll never notice the weight difference in performance or handling.

 

[gereed75]

I ran the weight and balance on this once - the movement in CG is very small for a few ounces on the tail. Don't recall the exact numbers, but it equated to a few pounds (maybe 4) in aft baggage capacity.

Another way to say it is changes of ounces at the tail wheel are not an effective or practical way to move CG. It takes pounds on the nose (changes in props or moving the engine with different mounts) to effect significant changes in CG.

The small effect on CG of the OP's tail wheel change will not be dramatically noticed in flight characteristics or utility.

 

[vfrazier]

There are other alternatives for tailwheel forks, including our retrofit fork. Ours weighs virtually the same as a Van's fork (within an ounce). Our Screaming Eagle fork gives better clearance and superior handling. It is a 5 minute job to install it, excluding painting it to match your colors.

Screaming Eagle retrofit fork for Van's RV type tailwheels

Our fork will also accept a tailwheel pant, if desired, and still retain complete full swiveling capabilities.

Please check out our other RV accessories at the URL below.

 

[Snowflake]

Our Screaming Eagle fork gives better clearance...

... than the Van's fork. It does not give better clearance than the Bell fork, and has the same limitation as the Van's fork in that there is a vertical section below the pivot that could hang up on deep ruts. It may be the best option if you want to maintain the same weight as the Van's setup, or if you wish to use the tailwheel pant.

For some side-by-side-ish photos showing the various options, see this post from an earlier (long) thread on tailwheel forks:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=693101&postcount=281

(not meant to be critical of Vince's design, just wanted to clarify...)

 

[Alan Carroll]

... than the Van's fork. It does not give better clearance than the Bell fork, and has the same limitation as the Van's fork in that there is a vertical section below the pivot that could hang up on deep ruts. It may be the best option if you want to maintain the same weight as the Van's setup, or if you wish to use the tailwheel pant.

For some side-by-side-ish photos showing the various options, see this post from an earlier (long) thread on tailwheel forks:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=693101&postcount=281

(not meant to be critical of Vince's design, just wanted to clarify...)

Won't the wheel itself hang up in a rut greater than 3" deep (half it's diameter)? For sure the main wheel pants are going to take a beating.

I've got the Screaming Eagle tailwheel fork and find it a good compromise. It's plenty high to clear any rut or pavement edge I would dare to taxi across. The Bell tailwheel looks very nice too.

 

[Snowflake]

Won't the wheel itself hang up in a rut greater than 3" deep (half it's diameter)? For sure the main wheel pants are going to take a beating.

You'd think so, but no.

The Bell fork (and the other one like it whose name escapes me right now) will let the wheel climb a vertical curb that is no higher than the bottom of the pivot (over 5" on the Bell, and at least 6" on the other one), with no scratches on the airplane. You're right, the main wheelpants would take a serious beating if you tried to take the whole airplane over that, but in general you'll see a curb like that before you taxi the main wheels into it. Where it comes in handy is at the end of the runway or in the run-up bay, when you mis-judge the distance to the edge of the pavement, or mis-judge how solid the soft shoulder is when you swing your tail into it.

When this happens, a little power and small amount of forward stick and the wheel will run up and over the bump. With forks that retain the long vertical front on the pivot, like the Van's fork, the metal vertical front surface will bind on the edge of the lip... Any power added will increase the binding force, so you'd need a lot of forward stick to try and make it break free.

Again, let me say that this isn't supposed to be a criticism of the Screaming Eagle fork... It is an improvement over the Van's design for clearance, and lets you keep the Van's look and use the wheelpant. The Bell fork makes your RV look more like a bush plane.

 

[Alan Carroll]

Where it comes in handy is at the end of the runway or in the run-up bay, when you mis-judge the distance to the edge of the pavement, or mis-judge how solid the soft shoulder is when you swing your tail into it.

That makes sense. I'd add to this parking at fly-in events where you might pull off onto grass and then have to get back over a lip onto pavement. SOP there would be to move the plane back onto the pavement before engine start, but this is often a bit of a hassle.

From different perspective, the Van's type wheel is actually too big and rugged for some of the racing folks! Its fairly common to see roller-blade size wheels in use on custom forks, in an attempt to reduce drag.

 

[Snowflake]

That makes sense. I'd add to this parking at fly-in events where you might pull off onto grass and then have to get back over a lip onto pavement. SOP there would be to move the plane back onto the pavement before engine start, but this is often a bit of a hassle.

I think in this case you're still limited by your (main) wheelpant clearance... As was pointed out, even if the tailwheel would clear it you'll still strike your main wheelpants first.

 

[JonJay]

I went with the Bell as turning around on our narrow runway causes my tail wheel to drop off the sharp edge of the runway. Mains never leave the pavement and are not part of the equation.
When I removed my Vans fork, the scars where very evident. I don't worry about tearing my back end out anymore.

 

[Alan Carroll]

I think in this case you're still limited by your (main) wheelpant clearance... As was pointed out, even if the tailwheel would clear it you'll still strike your main wheelpants first.

True, but the wheel pants are less likely to hit the lip while rolling up onto the pavement. Rolling off the pavement is when they're more likely to get hammered because the aft part rides closer to the ground.

 

[vfrazier]

I don't see Rob's name in our customer list so I don't see how he could have much first hand experience with our Screaming Eagle fork.

I can assure you of three things though:
1) Bell's tailwheel fork is a very fine product.
2) If I didn't make the Screaming Eagle tailwheel, I'd have one of Doug's forks.
3) I have many hundreds of hours on my Screaming Eagle fork and have yet to have it snag on anything like the old RV fork would do. Nor have I heard any customer reports saying that it did.

In Rob's defense, I suppose that IN THEORY the Bell fork could make it over a 5" obstacle more slightly easily than our fork, though the load that is put on the tailcone for either fork would likely be far more than most RVers would be comfortable with. Yikes!

If you're regularly taxiing over stuff that tall, maybe a bush Cub would be a better choice for your flying needs!

I like the Screaming Eagle fork because it gives more than adequate obstacle clearance, steers easily, is relatively streamlined, and can accept a Van's tailwheel pant and still full-swivel if you're into the total speed thing. But then, I'm sort of biased.