Tailwheel Maintenance

12 May 2006 Tailwheel Maintenance

The tailwheel on a Van’s RV works great, but requires regular maintenance. There have been several stories of people having the tailwheel not lock properly, and this is usually caused by lack of lubrication of the retaining pin. If the retaining pin gets stuck, then the tailwheel will spin around 360 degrees. It’s not the end of the world, but here’s a story that illustrates that it is best avoided:
> –> RV-List message posted by: “Ron Schreck”
>
> Hi all,
>
> I had an incident last week that really got my attention. Upon landing,
> when I lowered my RV-8’s tail wheel to the runway the tail popped back
> up suddenly and when it came down again the airplane made a sudden
> 20-degree left turn off the runway. My neighbor was watching and he
> said he saw the tail wheel spinning around 360 degrees (on the vertical
> axis) after it bounced the first time. Post-incident autopsy revealed
> that the spring-loaded pin that locks the tail wheel was stuck in the
> retracted position. I removed the pin, polished it and carefully filed
> the pin hole and lubricated the assembly. It works fine, for now, but I
> am concerned that the airplane veered so suddenly just because the tail
> wheel was apparently unlocked at touchdown. I would assume that air
> loads would fix it in the trail position and once contacting the runway
> that the castor would do the same. I’m a little gun-shy now since I
> can’t explain why the airplane reacted as it did. I would feel a bit
> better if others have had similar problems and I would be really excited
> if someone has a solution to my problem. …
>
> Ron Schreck
Suggested maintenance: Disassemble, clean, de-burr, re-grease, and re-assemble the tailwheel at each oil change. Ensure the retaining pin or locking pin is smooth, and the hole it goes into has no burrs. Check spring to make sure it is not broken, and still has strength. Smooth all surfaces, re-grease, and re-assemble.