Allen sent me a couple of current pictures of c/n 1228, N9185Z placed on tundra tires and larger tail wheel, interesting that just looking at the a/c the tail wheel looks like the normal size with proper angle of attack.
Opened the photos above at bottom of picture queue.
Below is what Allen had to say about the tail wheel.
Russel did a lot of work with Tom at "The Landing Gear Works" to make up a larger tail wheel fork and wheel based on the option available on the 700/800 series. He did a paperwork piggyback on what he was doing on the STC he had for 180/185s. He did Russels fork and wheel and made a second one at the time. I bought it, submitted a pile of paperwork and believe it or not got a field approval from the Atlanta office over a year later. Lots more flotation vs the original.I still think a Log book entry saying Installation of Factory optional Tail Wheel using parts produced under owners supervision would have been enough but I guess the 337 covers all bases.
I have heard that the larger tail wheel puts more stress on the shimmy dampener
and if so, then a recent post about shimmy dampeners may be of interest click on
http://flyhelio.com/smf/index.php?topic=1534.0Compare original and new size in photo.
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