AX-O
Well Known Member
Just wanted to give you guys some feedback on the DJM tail wheel. I have been doing my conditional inspection for the last two weeks. During the inspection I found that the tail wheel had some play (side to side). The bearings looked ok but I did notice that the inner spacers had signs of wear
I decided to install a DJM tail wheel. I contacted Dayton Murdock on VAF and a few days later the tail wheel showed up. The swap was very simple. I used washers as spacers and had it installed in about 5 minutes. I did not think it would make much of a difference but I was wrong.
-As soon as I pushed the plane out of the hangar I noticed that the plane was quiet. I ran over the door rails and it did not sound like the plane was going to fall apart.
-As I started to taxied, I notice that a muffled “tud” sound was heard versus the old “bang” as I taxied over cracks.
-As I continue to taxi, the ground handling felt smooth, solid and crisp. Same way during take offs and landings.
I was really surprised that something as simple and small as a tail wheel would have such a noticeable impact on the aircraft. As I put my plane away I noticed that I was very happy with the flight experience. Then I told myself that I needed to write some feedback so others could potentially give it a try.
Attached are some pics of before and after. BTW, if you saw the video of the tail wheel assemble testing, that is the same tail wheel. If it can handle that abuse without any failure, I think it can handle my paved runway without any problems.
I decided to install a DJM tail wheel. I contacted Dayton Murdock on VAF and a few days later the tail wheel showed up. The swap was very simple. I used washers as spacers and had it installed in about 5 minutes. I did not think it would make much of a difference but I was wrong.
-As soon as I pushed the plane out of the hangar I noticed that the plane was quiet. I ran over the door rails and it did not sound like the plane was going to fall apart.
-As I started to taxied, I notice that a muffled “tud” sound was heard versus the old “bang” as I taxied over cracks.
-As I continue to taxi, the ground handling felt smooth, solid and crisp. Same way during take offs and landings.
I was really surprised that something as simple and small as a tail wheel would have such a noticeable impact on the aircraft. As I put my plane away I noticed that I was very happy with the flight experience. Then I told myself that I needed to write some feedback so others could potentially give it a try.
Attached are some pics of before and after. BTW, if you saw the video of the tail wheel assemble testing, that is the same tail wheel. If it can handle that abuse without any failure, I think it can handle my paved runway without any problems.
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