Shopping for a new tailwheel spring

[Delta Whisky]

Phil, I don't disagree with you much , but i do disagree that the AN 3 bolts are sufficient in this application. There were several failures back in the late 90's when I was building and many guys started drilling the holes larger for a AN 4 bolt which is what I did during my build. I also got rid of the tubing in the original design and made a solid aluminum bracket that wraps around my leaf spring. Even with all that one of my AN 4's sheared a few years back, so this is a known common failure point that should be checked closely on every preflight easy to miss the missing bolt and if you don't catch it you're probably in for mr. toads wild ride on your next flight. Also as Jeff mentioned the aluminum grove gear from our era (late 90's kits) are suspect (again several documented failures with rudder damage as the result and a big fix.) I ran mine for several years until a fly in when another Series 5 builder who had his fail , made me promise to replace mine, which I did with a 3 leaf steel spring that works fine.

I see the fender washers under the front attach point. Done to change the angle of the trailing spring angle? To solve a problem I might have? Inquiring minds want to know.

[n85ae]

I believe Bruce welded a plate under the original tabs after having a weld breakage. So likely the washers are compensating
for the additional metal in the back to keep the Spring angle correct.

I'm sure he will post a reply.

Jeff

I see the fender washers under the front attach point. Done to change the angle of the trailing spring angle? To solve a problem I might have? Inquiring minds want to know.

[airlina]

I see the fender washers under the front attach point. Done to change the angle of the trailing spring angle? To solve a problem I might have? Inquiring minds want to know.

Darrel, Jeff hit the nail on the head with his response, after ski flying season ended last spring and I was removing my tailski, I found that one of the tailspring mounting plate tabs had cracked along the factory weld , so I fabricated a steel gusseted doubler to beef up this area (my era Series 5 did not have the beefed up version that I believe the factory is doing now) . I always thought this area of the Kitfox was a bit wimpy with all that goes on back there especially on unimproved runways and while skiing and I was proved right , even though it took 18 years . Hence the spacers are required to make up for the doubler thickness. As a side note i saw your great looking plane at Sentimental Journey -nice job, quality work and it really stood out in the parking row even though we were the minority among all the Pipers. (2nd photo is the original break and 1st photo shows the doubler ready for install- was a tough area to weld due to the restricted access and fabric repair was required after a bit of expected meltage.)

[Delta Whisky]

Thanks for the kind words on the plane Bruce. I tried to keep an eye out for you - hanging around your good looking plane maybe - but no joy. We'll have to keep an eye out for fly-ins somewhere between central PA and northern Virginia and plan an in-person meet up.