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Replacing tailwheel assembly

S

sailvi767

Well Known Member
With the sale going on at JDair I decided to replace my entire tailwheel assemble and add the link. This is a F1 Rocket. I took a quick look at the stinger and existing tailwheel assembly and discovered that rather than the usual two AN bolts holding the tailwheel assembly on the stinger the holes are plug welded. Any chance of drilling that out to change the assembly or will I need to change the stinger also? Getting conflicting advise from local sources. Some say easy to drill and others say not a chance!
George
 
sailvi767 said:
With the sale going on at JDair I decided to replace my entire tailwheel assemble and add the link. This is a F1 Rocket. I took a quick look at the stinger and existing tailwheel assembly and discovered that rather than the usual two AN bolts holding the tailwheel assembly on the stinger the holes are plug welded. Any chance of drilling that out to change the assembly or will I need to change the stinger also? Getting conflicting advise from local sources. Some say easy to drill and others say not a chance!
George
Click to expand...

I am a noob so consider the source . . .

The stinger is some sort of spring steel and hard. The socket and weld are not hard. I would guess that it wouldn't be too hard to drill out the weld.
 
The tail spring, the "stinger," is heat-treated. Welding ruins the heat-treat. Given that yours has been welded, the only recourse is to replace it.

=========

On my Cessna 180, one year, I was enroute to California and stopped at Needles Outpost for fuel. The Outpost is just that, a gas station and small store, near the east entrance to Canyonlands. I taxied up the road and filled up at the gas station (the C180 is STC'd for car gas) and pushing back, the tail spring broke. They had no telephone there then. Eventually I got one call out, and fortunately a qualified friend came out in his C185 and picked me up. We left the plane in the desert.

Six weeks later we flew out and repaired the C180 and I flew it to CA.

Bottom line, DEFINITELY replace the tail spring.

Dave
 
It?s really not all that expensive of an item to replace, so my vote would be to just replace the entire assembly.
 
I am leaning in that direction. It?s not the cost of replacement but the degree of difficulty in installing a new stinger. Looking at the plans and aircraft it does appear doable without taking the tail apart.
George
 
sailvi767 said:
I am leaning in that direction. It?s not the cost of replacement but the degree of difficulty in installing a new stinger. Looking at the plans and aircraft it does appear doable without taking the tail apart.
George
Click to expand...

I don?t have any experience with an F1 but if it?s anything like an RV-4, it?s an easy job. My -4 has an inspection plate on the left side at the rear of the tail cone and a hole drilled on the underside of the cone. All I had to do was remove that little inspection cover to get to the bolt head and then reach a ratchet and socket through the hole in the bottom to get to the nut. Tap that one bolt out and you should be golden.
 
I don't think the stinger comes drilled and for sure there is not a standard size. It might have to be turned down to fit in the socket. I have a spare stinger that doesn't fit.
 
Mark33 said:
I don?t have any experience with an F1 but if it?s anything like an RV-4, it?s an easy job. My -4 has an inspection plate on the left side at the rear of the tail cone and a hole drilled on the underside of the cone. All I had to do was remove that little inspection cover to get to the bolt head and then reach a ratchet and socket through the hole in the bottom to get to the nut. Tap that one bolt out and you should be golden.
Click to expand...

It?s exactly as you describe. Will pull the cover when I get a chance and check. Hoping it?s not welded also!
G
 
sailvi767 said:
It?s exactly as you describe. Will pull the cover when I get a chance and check. Hoping it?s not welded also!
G
Click to expand...

It won?t be. That stinger goes through two bulkheads and it?s a machined to fit. On my -7 build, that front hole where the stinger mounts is factory drilled in both the mounting location at the bulkhead and the stinger itself, so there was no drilling required.

On my -4, I replaced the entire tail wheel assembly just as you?re doing on your Rocket. I wasn?t the original builder of this -4 and as I?m sure you?re aware, they were all a little more ?hand built? then the newer Vans kits. More to the point, when I removed the stinger and examined it I noticed that that front mounting bolt hole was drilled a little bit at an angle. So once you get your stinger out, exam the angle of that hole and confirm that it?s square in relation to both the stinger itself and with the rest of the tail wheel assembly.

You can buy the stinger un-drilled both at the front mounting location and/or at the tail wheel mounting location. I bought mine factory drilled and mounted where all of the tail wheel assembly is mounted, but I got the one that was un-drilled at the front mounting location. I then brought both the old and new assemblies to a local machine shop and had them match and align everything perfectly and then drill that front mounting hole for me. Remember, my original front mounting bolt hole was at a little bit of an angle and not perfectly square in relation to the tail wheel assembly so it was critical that the new assembly matched the old one so that not only the tail wheel assembly would be square but that also the front mounting bolt would align with the bulkhead so the bolt would go through.

So, point being in all of this rattling on is just take a look at your assembly and make sure everything matches and lines up. Once again, I have no experience with the Rockets and I don?t know how ?hand-built? they are. It?ll be easy to replace the stinger on my -7 if I ever need to because everything is factory jigged and drilled and pretty much plug and play. I think if I were you I?d give Blake a call over at FlyBoys... he?ll be able to fix you right up.
 
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