Tailwheel spring tension

[Pburns]

Question for the group. There has been some discussion that I looked up here, but I am hoping for a little clarification. I developed a shimmy on pavement, it turns out the the bolt holding the tailwheel on was a bit loose (Probably from my ham fisted landings...). Tightened it up and all is good. My hanger-mates however (One owns a champ, one owns a 7GCBC and both have owned multiple different tailwheel planes for years) told me my tailwheel chains were too loose. I have compression springs. I took one link out which put slight tension on the springs when the rudder is centered and taxied around. Now it just feel tight. I haven't flow it yet, probably will in a few hours. The question is: do the chains need to have tension on the springs? I couldn't find anything in the service manual. I flew the thing home from WY, landing on pavement the entire time without any issue. Granted this will slightly improve ground handling while taxiing, with a little less differential braking, but it didn't seem to make much difference. What do you guys run for spring tension, if any?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[Tangogawd]

Factory uses a long tension spring, that’s under tension.

There should be slight tension on the spring. Too much tension, it’ll jam up the steering mechanism inside, and not unlock. Too loose, and it’ll lead to shimmy.

I use univair kit for cubs, it’s a shorter length spring than factory, so I add 2 or 3 links to get the tension I like.

I personally don’t like compression springs, I find them far too stiff, and if they were to bottom out, they no longer provide shock absorption, where a tension style spring will.

 

[JackC]

I don’t use compression springs, we run a T3 airlite, stock rudder springs, it has been AWSOME

 

[Bob Turner]

I run them slack on the Cubs. I have left the long springs alone on the Dec, because all seems to be working fine.

My thoughts are that the extra tension just helps wear out the lower aileron hinge, and slightly increases the work those AN-3 clevises do at the rudder horn (good idea to replace them now and then).

But I have never run the little Scott. That thing apparently needs slight tension to lock.

For me, the big deal is shimmy. No shimmy = happy.

 

[JackC]

I run them slack on the Cubs. I have left the long springs alone on the Dec, because all seems to be working fine.

My thoughts are that the extra tension just helps wear out the lower aileron hinge, and slightly increases the work those AN-3 clevises do at the rudder horn (good idea to replace them now and then).

But I have never run the little Scott. That thing apparently needs slight tension to lock.

For me, the big deal is shimmy. No shimmy = happy.

I run the small (and light) Scott 2000, locks like a champ with the T3

 

[Pburns]

So, Update. I put the link back in, so there is a little slack in the chain. More for ground handling than anything else. The tailwheel really took a lot of effort to caster with tension on those compression springs. Enough so that it was hard for me to spin the plane alone, while moving it into and out of the hanger. Turns out if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

Thanks for the input,

Pete