4 or 6 inch tailwheel?

[danweseman]

Hi Fred
Most 0-320 guys are running the 6 inch. In the initial phase of design and production We recommended it to help a bit with CG on the 0-320 powered machines. In the end we found the CG was fine with the heavier engines and you do not need or want extra weight in tail unless you are building strictly for aerobatic work. The larger tail wheel is "nice" for flying off grass but not needed at all. We fly two aircraft off Grass every flight with the 4 inch tail wheels and they work fine. The tail is very light.
So If you are going to fly mostly off pavement go with the 4 inch , if mostly grass or softer strips consider the 6 inch.
I will personally always use a 4 inch on single seat aircraft,again due to the light loads.

We have not released any notices on the "tail wheel stress rumor",other than what Paul mentioned in the post you found. The issue was from transporting the aircraft 30 miles or more with out the tail wheel mount and VT bolted in place. Paul added a caution note to the BM about not transporting with load on the tail wheel without the entire system fully assembled.Now that we have things caught up with the Panther project,and before moving on fully to the next project ,We are reviewing a few areas We have been watching and will issue any notices We feel may be needed.

As always the forum is a great , but feel free to contact US directly with any concerns , service issue you find, or for questions on building and operations notices.

Thanks

[fwellman@att.net]

I am about to purchase my tailwheel from SPA, but before I do, I would like opinions from builders on which tailwheel most are using, 4 or 6 inch.

I will be using a Lycoming 0-290. Empty weight approx 250 lbs. Which tailwheel are builders with the 0-320 using and are you happy with it.

Also, while researching I read the topic " Tailwheel stress rumors" . Any update on that?


Thanks,
Fred