I learned in this thread about a problem I didn't know I had, and I'm glad I did. My tailwheel was unlocking well before the stop to the left and right at the stop to the right. I never realized there was so much asymmetry to this system. I have also found that it is much worse when your rudder travel limit is the maximum (35 degrees) instead of the minimum (30 degrees).
After playing with this a while I believe the best fix is to move the forward link attach point both forward and inboard. The closer you can get to the rudder hinge point the better but there is a practical limit to this. I also tried a few different locations for the rear link attach point. Here is a look at the old and new geometry:
Here is the intallation:
You can see I put a slight bend in the link to clear the rudder bottom. With this geometry and the standard rear arm (3.0") I no longer release before the stop but with +/- 35 degree rudder travel I think it still releases too soon. I can either reduce my rudder travel to +/- 30 or make a longer rear arm which I think is preferred. Once the rudder is at the stop I want it to take a hard push to get the wheel to unlock.
After playing with this a while I believe the best fix is to move the forward link attach point both forward and inboard. The closer you can get to the rudder hinge point the better but there is a practical limit to this. I also tried a few different locations for the rear link attach point. Here is a look at the old and new geometry:
Here is the intallation:
You can see I put a slight bend in the link to clear the rudder bottom. With this geometry and the standard rear arm (3.0") I no longer release before the stop but with +/- 35 degree rudder travel I think it still releases too soon. I can either reduce my rudder travel to +/- 30 or make a longer rear arm which I think is preferred. Once the rudder is at the stop I want it to take a hard push to get the wheel to unlock.