Repeat offender

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

greg the two bushings for maule tail wheels are easy to tell witch you have if your wheel has the shimmy damper it's the old style this damper is a long hex nut that is facing to the right rear as viewed from the rear, the new style has no damper and use two different size springs to dampen the shimmy. And welcome the the forum chuck

I'm glad there's an external telltale. I didn't relish tearing it apart just to figure out which style it is. Mine doesn't have the shimmy damper so it must be the new style then. That's good because some of the old style parts are backordered at Spruce. I don't have different size springs though and based on some other pictures I've seen they aren't the right type either. I don't really like what I've got because I had them on my first Taylorcraft and one popped off on my first landing. It caused the only ground loop I've had - fortuneately no damage. I'll have to look for the correct springs. Thanks.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg,
You flew exactly over the top of our shop. Those Taylorcraft wingtip shapes are unmistakeable. Your airplane is a nice looker. You'll have to join us next time we get all the Taylorcraft gang together. Congrats on your new (old) plane,

Thanks Terry. Let me know when and where if there's a get together. I don't need much excuse to go flying.

[crispy critter]

Re: Repeat offender

If you plan to replace the tailwheel all together, I have a friend who put a Matco tailwheel assembly on his taylorcraft and I loved it soo much that I bought the same one for my starduster II. I think I paid less then $200 for the entire assembly(non-PMA'ed) but has been the best working tailwheel I've ever used on anything and I also have it on a taylorcraft tailwheel spring(on my starduster II). I also believe my friends tcraft tailwheel was non-PMA'ed but they offer a couple now that are. When I got my Starduster it had a maule on it and I rebuilt it twice, never with positive results. I've also had them on tcrafts, C170's, and a few others and always a pain to keep them working correctly. I also tried a scott 3200 on my starduster that was already a little heavy on the tail, I didn't like or need the extra weight on the tail and still had an occasional shimmy. When my friend told me about the cheap matco I went over for a look and tried it out. At first sight I thought it looked a little light and flimsy but was highly impressed with how well it worked and how smooth it was. At the time I think I paid $150 for it(been about 3 or 4 years ago), I figured it was not more then the cost to rebuild a maule and if it held up for a year or 50 hours and worked good it would be worth it......that was 3 or 4 years ago and about 75 hours and it still works like new. Always smooth,never a single shimmy, and ground steering is as good or better then anything I've seen yet. Another friend put one on his cub, another friend on a Baby Ace, and now have one on a Spezio TuHoler. All with the same results. I'm not sure if they are PMA'ed but I think they have one that is now, but either way they are the best bang for the buck that I have found so far....not to mention they are about half the weight of a scott 3200 and 1/3 lighter then a maule.

[Bigdog]

Re: Repeat offender

I'm glad there's an external telltale. I didn't relish tearing it apart just to figure out which style it is. Mine doesn't have the shimmy damper so it must be the new style then. That's good because some of the old style parts are backordered at Spruce. I don't have different size springs though and based on some other pictures I've seen they aren't the right type either. I don't really like what I've got because I had them on my first Taylorcraft and one popped off on my first landing. It caused the only ground loop I've had - fortuneately no damage. I'll have to look for the correct springs. Thanks.

Well. the bad news is that the absense of a shimmy damper apparently does NOT indicate it's the new style. I ordered the new style bushing and some other parts. I tore apart the tailwheel only to find it doesn't fit. I did what I could without a new bushing and it does work noticably better...so far. Other bad news is that I ordered the Maule compression springs and they don't appear to fit. There's not enough space between the rudder horn and the steering arm, at least not enough to use the attachment links provided. Has anyone installed them and how did you do it? In the meantime I reinstalled the tension springs and saftied them. That make me 0 for 2 in tailwheel fixes... sigh.

[mikerice]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg-
I ordered both Maule fittings from Aircraft Spruce and they are shipping now. We are planing on removing the tailwheel in 3 weekends during our annual. Since we have both Maule bushings, we figure, one has to fit!

As for springs, we lost one due to not "mousing" them with safety wire. I replaced both with stock items from lowesair in Buda, and they have been working fine. The springs are neutral or in tension slightly, and are equal on both sides.

[woodmw]

Re: Repeat offender

Greg,

Great looking airplane!

I have been using the FL-760 for about a year. Have had no trouble with the radio. I bent up an aluminum box, approx 8”x8”x4”, to mount the radio, along with the battery, switches, voltmeter, and jacks. My whole setup weighs in at a little more than 6 lbs. I am using a Hobbico Torqmaster Mini, 4.5 Ah gel cell battery. The voltmeter is a Hobbico VoltWatch. I got them from Tower Hobby, a radio control supplier in Illinois. All the switches and small jacks are from Radio Shack. The large phone/mic jacks are from Aircraft Spruce. I have the intercom wired and it works well on the ground, but have not used it in flight. I set the radio on the floor in front of the seat with a Velcro strap holding it in place. No problem tuning or seeing the dial in solo flight. With a passenger, might be a little harder, but not much. My plane had an external antenna when I got it, so I didn’t have to do anything there. I originally mounted the phone/mic jacks on the top of the box. This puts the plugs sticking up where a passengers legs could push on them, so I remounted to the side, hence the plugged holes on the top. I drilled the box for cooling holes on one side, and the large hole under the jacks is for a small 12v cooling fan from Radio Shack. So far, it has not been needed. In the photos, the white labels on the switches/jacks are Photoshop’ed. One of these days I’ll get the box labeled. One addition I plan to make is an additional jack for an external PTT. Now I use the red PTT switch mounted on the top of the box. Works fine, but I am contemplating mounting a PTT on the control wheel.

FYI, second Saturday of most months, EAA 302 in Conroe has a pancake breakfast before the monthly meeting. June is an dinner meeting, so next pancakes should be in July. Guests are always welcome.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Repeat offender

Nice!