Tailwheel Upgrade

02/02/2006 - While waiting for the paint shop to finish, I ordered a different tailwheel for the RV-8. The stock one has less than an inch of clearance between the ground and the front of the assembly. This can cause problems should it catch on some uneven pavement or something while taxiing. You can see the new one has much better clearance. It's part number 6134, the 20 degree model, reamed out to a couple of 1000's to .635 to fit Van's tail spring. It weighs 5.0 pounds and costs $239.50, plus shipping. Karen at Aviation Products Inc. (114 Bryant St. Ojai, CA 93023) was very helpful with all the details. Her number is 805-646-6042. I'll post some more details when I mount this on the plane in a couple weeks.

04/17/2006 - I finally got around to installing this new tailwheel. First, for comparison sake, this is the old tailwheel. I noted that the bottom of the strobe is 11 inches from the ground, and the center of the spinner is 60 5/8 inches from the ground.

This is the new wheel installed. The strobe is now 13 3/8" high and the spinner is 59 13/16". So the tail rose more than 2 inches and the nose dropped by about 3/4". Just standing back and looking at the tail, it sure looks different -- tall and gangly. But sitting in the plane, I might have been able to tell at first, (because I was looking for a change), but now I don't even notice it any more. I don't notice any real change in the plane's attitude during taxi, take-off and landing. The rudder pedals have a light touch now though -- it's easier to turn. And as you can see below, clearance is much improved.

Making this change took a little bit of work. For one, the new tailwheel mount was not predrilled. So I had to match drill it to the existing holes in the tail spring. This was a little tricky as you can't see the holes with the new tailwheel installed. I did a lot a measuring to figure out where to drill, and then drilled undersized, and stepped up to the final size. It worked out fine.

Second, I was under the impression I could use the original control horn on the new wheel. Nope. The inside diameters are different. So I had to customize the new one to use it with the Jantzi link. This meant chopping one of the ears off and putting a 15 degree twist in the other side.

Third, My Bogi-Bar towbar I was using with the original tailwheel does not fit the new tailwheel. I got a new one intended for the big Scott tailwheel from SkyGeek. It works great.

After all that, it was disassembled for painting and then installed. I probably have 15 hours on it now with no problems.

If I where to do it again, I would probably get the Bell fork instead. It's more of a turn-key solution. It's also cheaper, but you don't get a new wheel with it. At the time I bought the one from Aviation Products, Doug Bell and his dad were just getting started with theirs. Having been stranded by small, one-man operations before, I decided to go with the bigger company. (No offense to the Bells intended.) Since then, the Bells have delivered several forks to RV flyers and I've heard nothing but good things about them. I hope they continue to thrive.