Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "Gary Meadows"
hey guys (and gals) Heres a easy one. I'm building up the area between the rear ends of my longerons to form a pad to mount a conventional tail wheel spring. I know,God never ment for it to be that way!! I have t-88ed 1" of marine plywood between the longerons. Question one: Is an 1/8" gusset on the top and bottom sufficient or should the gussets be thicker like maybe 1/4"? I definitly don't want to take a chance of it breaking in service but I dont want to put any more weight back that far than necessary. So please let me know what is normally done. Question two: I've noticed that most tail wheel springs have two or three bolts through them but the springs I see in the cataloges only have a single bolt hole at the far end. Is everyone drilling extra holes or am I looking in the wrong places for springs? Ed G Palm Harbor, Fl.________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Michael D Cuy

Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Ed, I used the two hole at the fuse mount. I also used two springs.I purchase the springs from a local company and cut,bent,shaped and drilledthem as per the way Tony Bingelis shows in his book.He advises keeping them long. You can check out how mine came out at thislink.http://www.megsinet.net/~skycarl/pietpa ... --Original Message-----

Original Posted By: Carl Loar
Nice pictures Carl, I have a question for the group about tail wheels andcaster angle. Does the pivot axis for the tail wheel need to be at aparticular angle, or does the length of the fork provide the casteringeffect? I assume the caster will change as the spring either the leaf, or"A" arm and coil, compresses. Does this set up a potential for tailwheelshimmy?John Mc----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: del magsam