>My impression is if tailwheel drive springs are loose, it would be like
driving a car with a worn rack and pinion?? You can do it, it will not
be as sensitive as one with no play, but then again you will not be able
to maintain precise directional control due to hysteresis.
Please explain why loosing the springs would be more desirable to having
precise control over tailwheel by rudder inputs and if too touchy then
tame down by shorter drive moment arm or longer driven moment arm?<
I would think Graham Singleton is the best person to explain. However I
will give you my thoughts and you can decide whether they have any
merit.
If the springs are too tight the tailwheel will be too powerful at
higher speeds when the rudder should be controlling. If you reduce the
gearing by using longer arms you will increase the already large turning
circle when at taxying speeds. Whatever arm length you use it is
important to line up the sleaving tubes reasonably accurately before
fixing them into the fuselage. There has been one case of excessive
cable wear due to the cables rubbing against the tubes at extremes of
travel. Obviously if they are too loose the steering becomes
ineffective. I seem to remember Graham giving some guidance as to spring
tension and it worked OK for me. If you have the springs too tight you
might as well do without them altogether. When they are at the right
setting it is possible to tighten the turn on taxi by applying a burst
of power whilst applying full rudder. This causes the outboard spring to
extend tightening the turn. This has to be done carefully to avoid a
full ground loop but works well when needing to do a 180 degree turn at
the end of a narrow runway.
Others with more hours on their Europas than I have agree that the setup
seems to work so I would only change things if Graham advised it or
significant handling or engineering problems developed.
Nigel Charles
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