hi , my tail wheel is wearing sideaways , I, see the plane doesn?t stand leveled on the floor , the full swivel mechanism unlocks suddenly in landings , It is quite noisy like rough running on pavement from inside . Any clue? thanks
Uneven wear on a tailwheel may indicate that it isn't quite plumb. There isn't much you can do about it at this point, and I don't think it is a real worry unless it is way out.
If your wheel is wearing unevenly, you can always reverse it and it'll wear the other way... Before you do that, lift the tail and make sure the wheel still spins freely on the bearings. No sense reversing a wheel with bad bearings.
The tailwheel unlocking means you need to disassemble the tailwheel and take a look at the mechanism which keeps the tailwheel centered until a certain breakout force is reached. The pawl or the slot it recedes into may be worn. Also, you could have a defective spring in that assembly.
Noise when taxiing? There is some tailcone tincanning and maybe resonance in the elevator push/pull tube in my -6. Could that be what you're hearing?
You might also check to make sure the rubber isn't delaminating from the hub (assuming you have the standard Vans tailwheel). I had this happen after a few hundred hours. Made a lot of noise/vibration while taxiing. Hard to see on preflight, but obvious if you pull on the tire.
I had a similar deal with my Van's tailwheel and decided that I'd just keep turning the thing around etc. Then I upgraded to a Bell wheel, and the tire wore back to even and has been doing perfectly since. My conclusion was the the Van's unit was somehow made with a built in tracking issue, but my measurements did not turn up anything I could pin it on??
The tailwheels that Vans has shipped for the past several years have sealed bearings. Their replacement bearings are also sealed. The zerk grease fitting is useless for anything other than filling the wheel with grease that can sling out onto your rudder.
I shoot some thin aerosol lubricant into the bearings occasionally and that seems to prolong their life some. The bearings are inexpensive and easy to replace when then get too noisy.
If the plane is sitting a little sideways, it sounds like one of you landing gear may be bent. This would also explain the unlocking of the tailwheel due to the preload that is being applied.
You could try jacking the airplane up, levelling it laterally, and measuring the distance from the ground up to each main wheel.
Also worth looking at is the main wheel tracking. Put the main wheels on grease plates and measure for toe in/out.
I bought a Tailwind once upon a time that had been pranged and had bent the gear (same style). It took a lot of bending and measuring to get it right.
I disassembled the wheel and took off a couple of plastic shims that seem to keep the mechanism to low for the little trigger , I will try it soon . Thanks a million
