Scott 3200 tailwheel

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:00:29 -0400, " jls" wrote:


"Scott" wrote in message
...
I think it's the other way around...what can a Maule do that a Scott
3200 can't do? SHIMMEY! Years ago we put a Maule pneumatic on our
Cessna 140 to replace the hard rubber tire Scott 2000. Never could get
the Maule to work well, so we went back to the Scott. The other thing
that is nice on the 3200 is dual forks. That just HAS to be better
than
a single fork in rough field operations...

Scott, I have seen those Scott forks bend, warp, crack, break and be
re-welded. Knock on wood, but I have never seen that big brawny fork on
a
Maule crack or break. I have never had a Maule shimmy on my aircraft,
but
have fixed a Cub's Maule that shimmied because the tailsprings had been
improperly installed and the wheel was mis-rigged.

One of the Fly Baby crowd put together a paper on the care and feeding of
Maule
tailwheels:

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/Maule_Tailwheel.pdf

He recommends dissimilar springs to discourage shimmy, and says that
binding or
looseness in the assembly itself encourages it.

Myself, I haven't had a problem.

Ron Wanttaja

Excellent site, Ron. Just what you need --- the vertical shaft tilted 15
to 20 deg. forward, compression (not tension) springs with asymmetrical
recoils, the assembly rigged true at the leaf springs so there's no lateral
tilt of the wheel, and no slop in the leaf springs or chains. If there's no
slop in the wheel assembly you won't get any shimmy.

In 20 years I never had a shimmy. Last time I was at Clemson I watched a
Skybolt land on the paved runway. He should have landed in the grass. The
aircraft had a Scott 3200 on it. The shimmy was so violent it was awesome.

But then he probably just had a rigging problem.

Excellent site, Ron. Just what you need --- the vertical shaft tilted 15
to 20 deg. forward,

Here goes the old debate again. Are we talking the top of the
pivot axis tipped forward? Every tailwheel shimmy I had was partly due
to that, and replacing the tailspring or whatever to get the axis
vertical or tipped back a little stopped the shimmy. It's the same
effect as a bent caster on a shopping cart: bent back, it will shimmy.
Now I know that there are some aircraft manufacturers that specify
the axis tipped forward, and I don't know why.
The Scott we bought recently was to replace a shimmying Scott.
We had replaced everything else related to the tailwheel, had the axis
fixed and everything, and it still would not stop. It turns out that
the bronze bushing in the fork wears out, and Scott doesn't sell that
part separately; have to buy the whole fork, which costs a big bundle.
To avoid any further fooling around, we replaced the entire assembly
and the shimmy went away immediately.

Dan

wrote in message
ups.com...
Excellent site, Ron. Just what you need --- the vertical shaft tilted
15
to 20 deg. forward,

Here goes the old debate again. Are we talking the top of the
pivot axis tipped forward? Every tailwheel shimmy I had was partly due
to that, and replacing the tailspring or whatever to get the axis
vertical or tipped back a little stopped the shimmy. It's the same
effect as a bent caster on a shopping cart: bent back, it will shimmy.
Now I know that there are some aircraft manufacturers that specify
the axis tipped forward, and I don't know why.
The Scott we bought recently was to replace a shimmying Scott.
We had replaced everything else related to the tailwheel, had the axis
fixed and everything, and it still would not stop. It turns out that
the bronze bushing in the fork wears out, and Scott doesn't sell that
part separately; have to buy the whole fork, which costs a big bundle.
To avoid any further fooling around, we replaced the entire assembly
and the shimmy went away immediately.

Dan


Well, I don't tip it quite as much and see them work fine when not tipped.
The more tipped the greater stress on the bushing, of course. Then when it
wallows out you get shimmy invariably.

Paying big bucks for that fork assembly is a little painful, isn't it?

How much was it and where did you buy it? I know somebody who needs one
very badly. He shoulda had a Maule.

How much was it and where did you buy it? I know somebody who needs one very badly. He shoulda had a Maule.

I got the last old-stock one from Aviall. The next guy has to pay
the shot.
I was quoted as high as $1750 Canadian for one from various
distributors. That's about $1400 US.
Dan