Tailwheel leaf springs/shimmey!

[Jesse Jenks]

Have been struggling with a bad shimmy that I thought I had mostly figured out...until yesterday. I installed a 2 leaf steel spring in place of the fiberglass one and had been having good luck for the past 40 hours despite needing to have it re bent to get a more horizontal castor angle. Yesterday it shimmied bad enough to bend the clamp assembly (see pics) Now I'm back to the drawing board and considering all options. I will need to fix or remake/reinforce the tail strut support angle as well as modify the leaf springs or replace them with something else. Any ideas? I had a beautiful weekend of flying before the destructive shimmy, so I have that to motivate me to get it fixed. Also, I now know that I can successfully hold the tail up with brakes until slowing to a slow taxi speed. I got it to the home airport after the bad shimmy happened at a fuel stop.
thanks.
Jesse

Tailwheel leaf springsshimmey!
http://cid-f0168b2944a206d0.skydrive.li ... GXyc8PA%24




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