Matco tail wheel

[Bandit 286]

Found out today why I ground looped at 999 hrs. a couple of weeks ago. While taxing down the taxiway I noticed I did not have complete control of my tailwheel. Shut down, got out and crawled under the tail to find out that the bottom cotter pin on the tailwheel nut had sheared off and the castle head nut was loose. This caused the tailwheel assembly to become loose and almost fall off. At preflight make sure you check that pin. Failure of a  10 cent part could have cost thousands.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Good info Mark! I developed a mild shimmy recently and just tightening both castle nuts back against the pins put enough tension back on it to fix it. I've noticed that sometimes if you tighten it enough to get the pin thru the next slot it's too tight. One guy told me he out a big nylock nut on the top so he could put the tension exactly where he wanted it.

[SuberAvid 617]

Good tips. 

 

First time I had mine apart was to fix the fork arms.  Now it is the bush tail wheel the way it needs to be.