tail spring re-arch

[jrevens]

I'm not so lucky....

I was thinking of getting new springs made but a couple inches longer to extend the wheel out and provide a little more dampening. Has anyone done this or is it not a good idea?

What about using a thicker single piece of spring steel rather than two thinner ones? Or alternately four thinner pieces sandwiched together with the total thickness the same as stock?

Just curious, I'd just like to find a press to re-arch my springs with for now and go fly!

Hi Rhett,
A couple of thoughts - as far as extending the spring length, a lot depends on the spring rate of the assembly itself - material, length, thickness, temper, etc., but I think you can run the risk of adding extra force & stress at the fuselage attach points because of the additional leverage. IMO, a thicker solid single leaf might not be good. Ideally with a tail spring, you want to match the spring rate of the main gear as close as possible - this can potentially improve 3 point landings. I've been intrigued with the solid rod (Whitman style) tailsprings, and curious if Lowell (Highwing) had any luck with his... maybe he will chime in.

[HighWing]

I've been intrigued with the solid rod (Whitman style) tailsprings, and curious if Lowell (Highwing) had any luck with his... maybe he will chime in.

John,
Interesting that you ask. I guess the best answer would be what kind of luck are you referring to. The real answer is that there were issues I was not able to address. When making the receiver for the spring, I could ream to precise internal dimension, but there is nothing out there spring wise that is dimensioned quite so accurately. I found that anything ordered would be guaranteed to be within a certain tolerance and my machine tools were not able to make things work.

I was chatting with this guy, but nothing really hit home.
http://www.irondesign-airparts.com/f...eel%20page.pdf

[Dusty]

We have found over here one of the best tail spring arching tools is a log splitter
I have a grove? alloy tail spring which has no give.It has to go ,I have to hold the tail up in the rough,sooner or later it will end in tears!
A slightly longer three leaf would bo a good idea