Matco Tailwheel

[DaveU]

Fellow builders,
I am completing my second annual annual.  One thing that troubles me is the tailwheel.  I had trouble after about 25 flight hours with the tailwheel spring "eating" into the mounting area on the tailwheel.  The tailwheel is made to accomodate a 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" tailspring, and since we have the wider spring, it sits up on the edges.  Well last time I shimmed the spring up to the level of the 1 1/2" slot and thought I had fixed it.  Not so.  The thing had worked loose again.  I filed the slot out (a mill and cutter would have been nice) and now the spring fits to the bottom of the slot.

I say all of this to say that you need to check the tailwheel.  Jack the plane up and wiggle the thing around.  If it is loose, figure out your solution.  

I think the best solution would be a different setup.  I liked the looks of the "Bob Tailwheel" that I saw at Oshkosh, and the Scott is nice, but very pricey.

I also found that one of my Matco Brake calipers had worked loose.  Not a bad idea to check those out.

No other surprises on the annual.  Finished the airframe portion today, will do the 50 hour inspection on the Rotax tomorrow.

Dave

[alan]

I had so much trouble with my Matco tailwheel, I pitched it into a corner and bought the smallest, cheapest, Maule tailwheel I could find and just replaced it. I have had no problems with the new 'wheel in about two years and 150 hours.

alan

[rmullins]

Did you see this thread on this?

http://www.wingsforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8810

I made a shim to fill in the gap underneath and it seems to fit securely. I've got about 50 hours on the planes and haven't had any problems yet, but it is something I'll definitely keep an eye on. Thanks for sharing your findings.

Rick Mullins  #144
Cincinnati, Oh

[stede52]

I also had a problem with the Matco assembly. I wore out the original one in about 30 hrs because I didn't put the right size shim between the spring and the matco bracket, it eventually loosen up and wore out the aluminum holding the spring in place.  I had everything as tight as I could get it but with the castle nut arrangement it loosen up over that time and caused other issues like spreading the channel which the spring sits in on the fuse.  I recently install the upgraded bracket ($60 + $) which has about 3/4" more thickness for the main thru bolt which holds the matco assembly together and it also has a grease fitting but it still has the step arrangement for the different size springs.  This time I routered out the narrow spring channel on the matco bracket so the spring fit flat in the 1 1/2" channel.  I'm still having problems with the spring vibrating back and forth in the fusealage channel which causes it to spread apart. As far as I'm concerned the channel support for the spring on the fuse is too weak and needs at least a 3/16 channel sides to keep it stable and the matco assemble needs the right size shim or better yet remove the narrow channel all together and put the highlander tails spring flat on the surface of the wider channel, or get rid of the damned thing altogether. Sounds like others are having better success with other assemblies. Just keep an eye on it, whatever you decide.

Steve.