Two or three springs ?

[Dusty]

A bit late to the party but.
I run 3 leaves plus 2 tapered secondarys . the reasoning is a broken leaf, even on a 3 leaf, lets the tailwheel contact the rudder and turns it resulting in an uncontrolled departure from the runway.
A 912 powered IV will benefit from the extra weight on the tail.

[Delta Whisky]

Gents - all very good inputs and thanks for making them. I missed making the planned call to Grove yesterday (too busy, I am retired after all) and am planning on managing my calendar a bit better today (but make no promises). Eddie - it is interesting that you mention the slack in the connection link. Originally I gave that question a lot of thought, especially when running the original tension spring set up. Without any evidence I went with a small amount of slack thinking I didn't want to add energy back into the system after deflection of the tail wheel. With your input, if it happens again I'll take the slack out. What I have done, pending a final solution decision is I mounted the connectors between the aircraft connection points and the compression springs/chain links all in the same way and safety wired them in that position. Not that I think it will make a difference in a propensity to shake, rattle and roll but because I (or, at least the plane) actually lost one of the springs during the last flight. Supposedly, one benefit of going to the compression spring was to eliminate any such possibility but I assure you - it can happen. Upon close review of the mounting links that come with the springs, it may have happened due to an error on my part; the links are now safety wired closed and held in the same orientation, side to side. Post maintenance landing practice/test flights did not produce any shimmy.

As to the decision tree - it appears the board of decision making is suggesting three possible outcomes: stay with the stack up but presumably replace on condition when the shimmy occurs (on a somewhat frequent basis), go with the Grove single piece (after verifying they still make one and don't have records suggesting a failure rate exceeds reasonableness), or going to the T-3.

Since I won't be flying from sand bars or competing in short landing contests - should switching to a T-3 be a serious consideration for any reason not already discussed? Has anyone experienced a shimmy problem? One reason I'm hesitant is the weight penalty. (The tail gets heavier and the wallet gets lighter.)

Thanks.

[efwd]

Hi Darrel.
The source of my information is directly from the factory. The tension in the spring is required to hold the swivel in line. The arms that you attach to the spring are designed to be held out so that the inboard end is held against the stop. Only when you try to turn, will the springs accomodate the breakaway function of the swivel. Kinda odd that the wheel comes without any instruction at all. I threw two springs in the beginning. Kinda embarrasing when I realized it was My error as well. Ive gotten my T3 and ABW tailwheel plenty of use over 500hrs and Ive never had any issues as of yet. Love the set up.

[Delta Whisky]

Have been trying to contact Grove for two days now. No answer. Gone early to OSH?