Tailwheels

[Ron Babos]

I take-off and land on grass, gravel and tarmac depending on where I go.
Ron

[Guest]

Mike,

I am a little confused about your remark that your tail wheel will unlock during a tight turn on the runway. Aren't they supposed to do that?

Brad

[MikeB]

Hi Brad,
I stated that a little wrong. Tight, tight turn....yes, it probably should unlock. But this one would unlock on just a "normal" turn and caused me to do a wild dance on the rudders until I could get it locked again (as the Champ headed for the runway lights or parts unknown) Anyway, it just seemed to be extra grease and dirt in the mechanism. Once I got everything cleaned up, it works OK again. Our other (club plane) will hardly unlock at all, so maybe I was overreacting. Works so well now that I decided not to buy a new tailwheel assy (at the present time anyway) and see how things go.
Mike

[SATCFI]

Mike,

Funny you mention over lubricating. When our old Champ came out of annual the first time, we noticed the tail wheel steering was almost non-existent. I took it apart and it was full of grease. I cleaned out most of the grease and it worked fine after that. I mentioned to my IA and he said that over lubricating will cause the tail wheel kick out mechanism to go haywire.

Thanks,

Brad

[Ron Babos]

I would blame it more on old caked grease in the locking pin pocket, which is virtually solid. An area nobody cares about until it won't work as it should. New grease will not fix the problem. Maintainance will.
Ron

[colcord]

when i bought my champ....1st landing the maule wheel shimmyed so bad it ripped up the rudder. tried everthing. even had dave maule rebuild it by hand. had to buy the scott. have given many tailwheel endorsements with it. buy the scott.....but if you want the maule i will sell it cheep\
386-299-5665 jon

[MikeB]

I guess it seems to vary from plane to plane. The angle of the TW post seems to make a lot of difference. Anyway, if you read my recent post on the top of the forum (price of parts/Don Eide), I just put on a new Maule and it works great with no shimmy. Also, stays locked until I want to unlock it. The price differential was about $800 plus dollars. The Scott is a nice wheel, but not sure it's worth the difference (I suppose it would if it kept me out of the weeds).

[mike newall]

Our old Scott was beyond repair so I bought one of Aircraft Spruce's economical ones from the guys at Ojai in California. Looks similar, works brilliant and a lot cheaper than Scott.

Our 'Ronca's operate on a similar basis to your Experimental category over here in Blighty so fitting is not a problem - would suggest a fit, forget and deny policy should work for you !

[zero.one.victor]

Spruce's Ojai-made tailwheel assemblies are called ACS Homebuilders Specials. I like the looks of the double fork model, except for the 6" solid rubber tire. It looks like it might be a bit sturdier than the Maules which are all single fork. Too bad they don't make one with an 8" pneumatic tire, like the Scott 3200 & Maule P8A/P8B.
You can get these tailwheels direct from Aviation Products Inc in Ojai California, but I think the prices are about the same as from Spruce. They're a bit less expensive than the maules. Scott's gone berserk with their prices-- over a grand for a 3200 nowadays. Outrageous!

Eric

[mike newall]

I know, my Citabria has just stopped clicking into place, looks like I need to strip and rebuild - Doh !

[zero.one.victor]

I've had this trouble with my 3200. Reference the exploded drawing in the Spruce catalog -- p/n 3222 "spring" wasn't properly engaging the notches in the steering arm assembly p/n 3214. Plus those notches were kinda worn. I ended up replacing the spring and taking a little jewelers file & dressing the notches. Had the same trouble later and just tweaked the spring-arms back out. If you pull the t/w assembly apart & clean it you can see how it's supposed to work, and whether it really is or not. Probably oughta clean them about once a year anyway- I do it as part of my pre-annual maintenance.
BTW, I like to lube it to the point that it spits grease at ya when ya walk by. Seems to work just fine that way, and I think it minimizes wear & tear. At a thou a copy, I wanna keep that bad boy in good shape!

Eric

[Mark Lee]

In the past, when parts were easier to get, it seemed that the Scott 3200 was the choice if you were doing training on pavement. If you were operating in grass or gravel, then the Maule or the Scott 2000 was fine. We found that lots of lubrication and regular teardowns and cleaning kept 3200 tailwheels working for a long time with minimal parts changes. The Scott 2000 worked great until wear set in on the upper pieces. then we replaced them with the 3200. I heard basically the same things about the Maule.

Getting grit into the tailwheel just wears everything out quicker. When you move into heavier tailwheel aircraft, you need to be more careful about setting up the tailwheel and overlubrication, but Champs, Chiefs and Cubs work well and last forever a little overlubricated.

[Dennis D'Angelo]

The 3200 is on my Champ and it works great. It came with the airplane, so I didn't have to experience sticker shock like many of you.

The Scott 3200 manual states constant lubrication--every 5-10 hours if I remember correctly--to keep dirt out and the parts well lubricated. I usually lube the tail wheel at the end of the flying day along with the main landing gear oleo struts. I agree with Eric, grease them until they spit lubricant, and the 3200 should last forever on the Champ.

[ddevoss]

What springs should I be using on a Scott tailwheel on my Champ? Broke on me the other day and doesn't steer worth a hoot!
I'm in San Antonio if anyone knows where to get them. Thanks

[Jody Wittmeyer]

I have had a Lang on my champ for 5 years, over 1000 hours and hate to guess how many landings. I had to rebuild it just after I bought the champ. It cost @ 49 dollars to replace the inards. Most of the Scott parts are interchangeable. The inside looks identicle. I land in grass, beanfields, asphalt and anywhere else that looks good to set down on. I would spend the 500 for the Lang, even if you had to rebuild it once for 50 dollars to get the same hours as a Scott. Like I first stated, I have over 1000 hours on the Lang since the rebuild. Hard telling how many hours on it before I got the plane.