Eric, your template looks exactly what I made to extend my model 4 rudder horn back in 2002. It was bolted to the original. I recommend chromoly (4130). My first extension, not 4130, lasted about 5 minutes of taxi time before bending and my model four was a nose wheel.
DesertFox4
Admin.
7 Super Sport912 ULS Tri-gear
Harlan and Susan Payne
Flying FarmFox STI Kitfox N61HP
Rotax 915is, Airmaster prop.
https://www.youtube.com/@KitfoxPilot/videos
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Jeff, your comment worried me because I have the Grove aluminum tailwheel spring, for about 5 years now with no problems. I contacted Grove about this and they said to contact Kitfox. I contacted John McB at Kitfox and he said this was very OLD information. Kitfox has been selling (and still does) these Grove springs as an upgrade option for many years and has had no breakage problems. The OLD information is about 16 years old and only applies to a very early version of the Grove spring.
Maybe the spring in Scott's photo is one of those old ones and if so, your comment is right on. However, I just wanted to clarify that the present version of the Grove spring has been holding up very well for about 16 years now, and I am very happy with mine. I have treated it pretty rough on dirt, gravel bars, and backcountry strips with no issues. I did increase the clamp bolts to 1/4", but that is a Kitfox issue, not a Grove issue.
Jim Ott
Portland, OR
Kitfox SS7 flying
Rotax 912ULS
I have one of these grove springs if anyone is interested. Make offer and pay shipping. I don’t know the age but I installed a T3 for aft weight. (Continental engine)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ben Bell
Building 7 super sport
O200 powered
Curious to know what the one's that didn't modify the the shorter horns are doing to protect the lead edge fabric? I didn't know about this mod and I am not going to tear off into the rudder and have to do more fabric work. Is there some material to make a guard or something?
In post #3 Arlina shows where he used some stainless steel strips.
I'm on the fence about this one. I have fully rigged my rudder but nothing is covered, so I could do something without major surgery if needed. I'm surprised I didn't notice the riding condition when I rigged it (I do have the "speedster" tail). The down side is that I actually prefer a sensitive rudder on a tail dragger, and lengthening those horns means the rudder pedals will need a more dramatic poke to keep the tail of the plane behind the front - always the favored orientation.
Kitfox 5 (under construction)
Commercial SE/ME, CFII
Jerry,
I fabricated a poly plastic wear shield in the same place on the rudder where the other person used SS. The material was cut from a plastic container of iced tea which had the same curvature as the rudder area requiring protection from the link. Sorry I don't have a photo but the shields have been there since 2008 when the plane was built and still fine. I used a couple very small SS screws to hold it in place. Some might think the choice of materials was somewhat mickey mouse, however, it had all the right characteristics.
Dave S
Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN
Oh I do see the stainless now. Thanks.
I'd probably do the extension if my fabric wasn't on already. However, the thought of doing more fabric work right now is enough to make me start drinking bottles of tea to get the material I need to make Dave's modification work!
Thanks.