That tiny wheel thingy in the back.... 

-Doug

Yes, I will admit to being a landing gear Luddite. We have owned 11 airplanes over the past 48 years and they were all taildraggers. I’ll leave this up to you to determine whether it is a sign of being a superior skilled pilot or not. As cool as taildraggers may be perceived, there is a reason the last tail- wheel airliner was the DC-3 built in the 1930’s. I think about that every time the wind is howling!

Fortunately, there are a lot of amateur built airplanes that come with that little wheel in the back and Van’s has a nice selection of taildraggers to choose from. Generally they are pretty easy to handle as far as conventional geared aircraft go. I tell prospective tailwheel RV pilots that if you can confidently fly a Citabria, a non (-A) RV is easily mastered.

But after about 1200 hours in my two RV-4s and the -7, here are some thoughts about tailwheel maintenance. All of Van’s kits come with a tailwheel assembly that looks like this: 

The design is simple and light and handles well.
It steers easily and is full swiveling through the use of a small spring loaded pin that unlocks when a large side load is imposed. As the wheel moves back straight, the pin slides back into place on the steering arm and you can steer it straight ahead with rudder. The downside is that you can catch the front of the tailwheel fork if you taxi from grass to pavement.

An aftermarket design is called the “Bell” tailwheel (designed by Doug Bell). I have this installed one my RV-7: 

You can see this has a double fork arrangement that brings the tail up almost two inches and provides much more ground clearance. It uses a solid rubber tire similar to what Van provides. The wheel is cheap and when it wears down, I just buy another one (when they wear down and get flat, I feel the handling becomes more sensitive. They seem to last about 300 hours). BUT... the tire Van currently sells is too wide for this fork. This is solved by using Aircraft Spruce’s p/n 06-03600 wheel and a bronze 5/8” to 3/8”reducer bearing from McMaster Carr to fit the 3/8” tailwheel bolt.

Now comes some editorial content so hang on! I’m not a fan of those one-armed steering links that are popular. I’ve seen a couple of them fail or get jammed. As innocent as this little wheel thingy looks, if it malfunctions you could end up with a damaged RV, which can ruin your whole day. I am not a fan of the compression springs that Van sells with the kits either (too stiff). I have found that plain-Jane Citabria/Aeronca tail springs sold by Aircraft Spruce (p/n 05-06339) provide just the right sensitivity. I connect them to the rudder horn with ACS tailwheel clips (p/n 06-15400) and ACS tailwheel chain (p/n 06-15500). Two AN115 cable shackles attach to the rudder horn with clevis pins and castellated nuts.

Personally, I adjust the chains such that there is no slack in them but not “tight”. Some people like “slack” in their chains but I feel it gives you a dead spot when steering on the ground.

I take the tailwheel fork apart every couple months and lightly grease it and the little spring-loaded pin. If the pin gets gummed up with too much grease, it can stick and won’t pop back into place after it unlocks and you can’t steer except with brakes. If it gets worn, replace it with a new pin and a new control arm (FlyBoy Accessories makes very good replacement parts). I just replaced mine (after 400 hours of use) and it steers like new!

Keep that little wheel in the back happy and you’ll save a few grey hairs!!!!