Tundra Lite Tailwheel by Jim Pekola

[FlyerChief]

I hope to put mine on floats, so I may have an extra Matco tailwheel myself!

Cheers,
Dan

[danerazz]

What floats?

[FlyerChief]

Likely the Zenair amphibs, but unlike my Highlander.... That's up in the air.
-Dan

[danerazz]

I was looking at those, other than the new wipair's ($$$) they seem like one of the only options. My plane is going to end up a little "fat" so I need to see what the weight comes out to, hopefully the 1450s will work. The price is not bad, and they look pretty easy to assemble.

[accent air]

I have a nice set of 14' full lotus floats with amfib gear for sale

[moving2time]

We are getting off topic here but I visited a guy that just finished a set of Zenith Floats for his CH 750. Same weight as the Highlander and he reported that the float set was a project in itself. He reported that the kit was great but the assembly was much more of a project than he expected. His Ch 750 was nearly complete and was sitting on the floats when I visited. He was just preparing to take them off the plane and get them painted. They looked awesome.

[gkremers]

How we went from "Jim's Tailwheel" to floats I don't know

Zenair sell the floats with 3 options

1700 Amphibious

Part Kit $9,990
Pre- Drilled $12,990
Fully assembled $21,990

Take a look on the Zenair website

[stede52]

Lets move this float discussion to a different topic.

[stede52]

Here's the 9" locking tailwheel which is going on Troys new SuperSTOL that he'll be flying at Sun N Fun. Jim just finished it up yesterday.

[stede52]

I had a couple comments/questions about Jims lockable option to his tailwheel which made me think there was a little confusion about whether or not the lockable version still had the friction tension aspect; the answer is 'Yes' it does. The two versions of his tailwheels are no different in design except for the locking aspect.

[stede52]

Here is a first look at the Jims lockable tailwheel for the standard Highlander tail spring. The last two pictures show the mechanism in the locked and unlocked position.

[Syd]

Hi Guys..

Quick question from another kiwi just joined...

Have been enjoying reading here for some time and the time has come to join up and start asking the odd question as I have just ordered a Superstol kit. II am wondering whether I should get this tailwheel included in the kit as opposed to the Matco...

I am a complete newbie, in that I will be building the SS and then will learn to fly in it, using an experienced instructor as test pilot and instructor.. I am handy and the building of it (although planes have not been in my history) is not concerning, the learning to fly is more of an unknown and in that light some advice would be appreciated...

I understand that the locking option may assist in tracking when taking off and landing particularly for a learner, but there also seems to be a downside to that in that its just something else to have to think about engaging and unengaging. It also occurs to my uneducated mind, that their may be a transitional period after touchdown where the speed in moving from rudder control to braking control, necessitates unengaging when I assume I will be busy doing lots of other stuff..

My gut feeling is that the added complexity as well as the extra controls and bits of stuff to get snagged etc is hardly worth the advantage.... but I don't really know what I am talking about..

So two things..
order this tail wheel over the Matco?
if so, lockable or is it not really worth worrying about..?

Thoughts..?

[User GDS]

Just had a thought for you guys installing a lockable tailwheel;

I'm a bicycle builder, too, there are several bicycle components that you could use to operate the locking pin on the tailwheel. Search for "Paul Thumbies" they are brackets ($$) that let you mount shifters on handlebars. You could mount a friction shifter on your stick and all of the installation would be bolt-on simple.

[Syd]

Hi Guys .. just bumping this as it has slid down the list..

Any thoughts on questions in my earlier post? A couple above..

Thanks

[john2]

Hi Guys .. just bumping this as it has slid down the list..

Any thoughts on questions in my earlier post? A couple above..

Thanks

Syd,
I spoke with Troy recently. He seems to like the lockable tailwheel but I can't really quote the reasons why. I know he told me that he could practically land the airplane with his feet off the rudder pedals with the non-steerable friction tailwheel. This was before the lockable one. It seems to me like the lockable one would be cumbersome till you got used to it. I suppose you would take off with it locked and land with it locked then when taxing off the runway or turning for take off you would need to unlock it so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Here is a cut and paste from Steve Denz's thread on this tailwheel:
Pilots new to tail draggers,
As some of you may already know by talking with Jim, he has had a 9” wheel for his tailwheel assy (with locking capabilities) testing on Just Aircrafts Super Stol for about two weeks now and he’s ready to start taking orders. I was at the factory last week and actually flew with it and it works. Troy and Gary thinks it’s the greatest thing since ‘sliced bread’ for those new to tail draggers and will be offering it as an option in their kits. They feel they will be able to put a non-tailwheel pilot in the airplane for the first time and have them takeoff and land almost immediately . I distinctly remember the most difficult time for me was just keeping the airplane straight during take-offs and landing and the transition as the wheel left or touched the ground. That transition is a critical time because when the wheel leaves the ground you need to reduce the pressure on the rudder petals immediately or you will have the tendency to over-control and vice versa when it touches the ground. It took me six hours a day for two days before my feet started talking to my brain . With this locking capability the airplane will run straight while on the ground with little or no transition to worry about once it leaves or touches the ground. This is one less thing to worry about when learning the “Tailwheel Dance” and that is a very GOOD thing. This locking option will not only dramatically reduce your transition time to a tail dragger, I would also consider it cheap "Tailwheel Transition Insurance".

You could always get the lockable one and use it unlocked until you was ready to add that additional feature to your flight routine but I think Steve's main point is that with the tail wheel locked it tries to keep you going straight while the rudder would be making directional changes. With it unlocked there is more chance of a ground loop.

Take Care,
John Cooley
Kit #265 converted to SuperStol