tailwheel shimmy

P

planebones

New member
Has anyone had an issue with tailwheel shimmy. I have had landing directional control issues with my 14-19-2....and notice a vibration type issue on rollout sometimes & saw what look like tailwheel shimmy marks on the runway. I have a pneumatic tailwheel. There is some play from the centering pin, but the thing seems to work well..???? thanks Ken
 
No shimmy on mine, but I did have a badly worn pin housing. I drilled out the housing and bushed it back to size. The housing had been replaced by the former owner as well so it looks like they don’t last too long. We fly off grass a good deal of the time so there is a lot of dirt in the tail wheel between annual cleanings.

When the pin was loose, the rudder would disconnect from the tail wheel unexpectedly and leave me with inadequate steering control as the rudder lost effectiveness during roll-out.
 
Check the play in the main tailwheel post bushing and the play in the nutcracker assembly.
Also check the top of the tailwheel oleo shaft where it bolts to the frame
-Adam
 
I can see that there is a lot of wear on the centering pin or it's housing will have to see what I can do??? How does that pin housing come off the bottom of the rest of the dang thing?
 
You need to remove the three small bolts that go through the tailwheel post into the lower brass bushing.
Remove the bushing and the steering collar and steering cable ring should both come loose with it.
-Adam
 
Two of the bushing bolts are easy to access from the outside but the third is pointing directly forward inside the fuselage.
I was able to get to it by removing the battery box and reaching through the battery compartment.
-Adam
 
I got at mine from the bottom, but it was not fun.
The hardest part was seeing where the screwdriver slot was on the bolt head.
once the bolts are out the bushing will drive out by taping the steering yoke with a block of wood.
The flange on my bushing was badly worn, threatening to drop the yoke and collar.
 
I finally took my tailwheel assy. apart and my big brass bushing in the tailpost has worn the flange on the botton of said bushing quite thin. Alexandria doesn't have any....has anyone been able to get one made at a machine shop? Of cource my centering pin "rocks" in its housing so am trying to figure out how to rebush that or make a slightly oversize pin.
 
I have had no real troubles with the tailwheel. Over the years I have disassembled and replaced worn parts twice. I have replaced the housing, the large brass bushing and the complete fork assembly. I like using hydraulic jack oil in the tailwheel strut. It works much better than 5606. The late Vic Steelhammer had a Stinson tailwheel on his crate. My experiences with Stinsons (2) is that it would be no improvement over the Bellanca. Tailwheels take a beating no getting around that. It would be a great help if you could get a video of your problem, a GoPro would really answer some questions. Lynn the crate
 
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