Taxiing my Super Rebel

[Mike Kimball]

Man, taxiing was harder than I thought it would be. I wonder if it's more
trouble with the standard MAM tailwheel. Whenever the radius of turn got a
little to tight the tailwheel would break loose and start turning me even
more sharply. I'd then come to a stop to keep out of the weeds or to
prevent running into a $200,000 airplane. Then I would not be able to get
going again without continuing the turn. I could not get the tailwheel to
straighten back out. Granted, I was unwilling to add gobs of power. I had
to be very careful not to turn too sharply or add too much brake in a turn
because the tailwheel would kick out as described. I eventually got the
hang of taxiing while being careful in turns to keep the tailwheel under my
control. Is this normal for the stock tailwheel? It's only slightly better
than a completely freewheeling tailwheel. Is there an adjustment to
increase the amount of pressure needed to break the tailwheel loose? I also
noticed two things about the tailwheel that might be contributing to the
problem.

1. The swivel axis is not vertical. It angles back. I need to move to the
lowest hole for the forward attach point of the stinger. I don't know if
that will be enough though. I'm already on the second lowest hole.

2. I didn't do a good job of mounting the tailwheel to the stinger. It's
not straight up and down. There is a very small tilt to one side. Hard to
notice unless you are looking for it. I wouldn't think that would make much
difference unless it was off by a lot. Uneven tire wear is a given.

Perhaps I should go for the tailwheel fix after all. I wasn't planning to
right away. (Anxious to get flying before winter!) Figured I'd do the fix
next summer.

Mike




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