Question regarding tail spring.

I have been reading the thread on replacement tail wheel assemblies and it got me thinking (I know, it may be dangerous but no smoke has come out of my head yet) about my set up. I have an old kit, #598. The kit came with a no swivel spring (rod). I want to put a swivel assembly on. So what do I do? Uninstall the spring I have on and buy another one from vans that has the predrilled holes and not the 90 deg bend. Or do I cut the 90 deg bend and redrill the spring (rod) with the new tail wheel assembly? By the way, that is Dayton's tail wheel.

I cut the existing tailspring....

...just before the bend. As I recall, some lathe work was required to prep/clean the end. I elected to do this rather than replace the spring as there is no easy way to duplicate the mounting hole in the root end of the spring.

Once the end is read for the full swivel tailwheel, re-mount the spring align the fork (carefully) and cross-drill (very carefully) the axle.

The new install has been much better. No more catching on cracks or lips in taxi ways!

Good luck,

Dean Pichon
RV-4

What happens to the distance between the rudder attachment point and the tail wheel assembly arm? Does the distance get shorter? I want to use a Steering Link. Will I have to special order one?

I knew I had a tail wheel assembly around somewhere. I bought this about 2 years ago with a bunch of RV parts. Do you guys know who the original manufacture is?

It looks like an API...

...just like mine (also building an RV-4).

Give a call to Karen at Aviation Products Inc. (114 Bryant St. Ojai, CA 93023). Her number is 805-646-6042.

Cheers,
Jim Melton

Axel,

I think what you have there is an Aviation Products, Inc. (API) tail wheel fork, single arm variety. They also make a dual arm version:

http://blog.bowenaero.com/?p=88

I think they will swap it out for you if you call Karen at the indicated number (if you want a dual arm). Also, I believe they will ream the knuckle for you to match the end of your spring after you cut it. Talk to them. They did something similar for me a couple of years ago.

Good luck!

As stated above, the tail wheel assembly is Aviation Products. I had to do what you are about to do to install it 14-15 years ago before Van had a full swivel tail wheel.

I HAD one of the single fork tail wheel and converted it to a double fork tail wheel assemble when the single fork BENT and the tire started wearing funny.

Once the BEND is cut off, get a machinist (someone like Rosie's friend Bill Souza) to machine the spring to the proper size to accept the tail wheel assembly. In my opinion, just get the machinist to CUT the spring for you. It is SPRING steel and very hard to cut / machine. I also recommend a tapper pin to attach it to the tail spring. They break bolts easier than what Ironflight had recently posted. The tapper pin solves that problem and also keeps it tight.

The Aviation Products tail wheel assembly will raise the tail about 1.5 inches higher than the Van's tail wheel and give you better over the nose visibility.