Right now I have an ABW fat tire on the tail.

Getting sick of it’s shimmy on pavement when landing in a crosswind.

What’s the best option for a “normal” tailwheel?

I’ll probably keep the Bushwheel handy if I ever go somewhere it’s needed, but so far I’m either landing on runways or on skis or floats.

I’ve got a 10” abw tail wheel. I thought about changing out the fork to put on a baby bushwheel. Looks to me that it’s probably better just to buy another whole assembly instead of a fork, tire, and labor to change it over.

I have had my 180k for 25years .have had a 14 14 Xp tailwheel since a bought it . Change fork once in 3000 hrs never a flat same tire and tube since I got it . Plane came with tailwheel lock use it cross wind. Would recommend wheel lock for low time pilots.easy to put in have done a fair no of installs. I have over 10000 hrs in these planes and cubs . Only ground loop I did in 1983 was first landing in my new to me was a 1976 185 on wheel skies that saved the day . No more check rides just keep it straight. Ps would never put a baby bush wheel on . Had lots of flats in early years with 8 ins tires and broken wheel haves . Keep tire pressure 70-75 ps less problems. Finally went to new tire injected rubber component it hardens tire sold . On lasted 25 years on a cub finally looking rough sitting on shelf would still work in a bind

ABW makes a Scott 3400 clone. That's the one I have, with 8.50x6 mains. It's a good combination of sizes. I've never had the slightest shimmy.

Ross,

Mine same as Stu. Good all around set up.

MW

“ Right now I have an ABW fat tire on the tail.

Getting sick of it’s shimmy on pavement when landing in a crosswind.”

Ross, have you checked bearing load? This excerpt is from the Skywagon Club manual (the red text is a note I put in to remember which way the pawl goes). I use a fish scale to check the 5-6 lb pull.

10" 3400 series tailwheel from TLGW or ABW.
You should need just the fork and the tire & tube.
You can reuse the head assembly ("knuckle") and wheel halves.

StillLearning wrote:I’ve got a 10” abw tail wheel. I thought about changing out the fork to put on a baby bushwheel. Looks to me that it’s probably better just to buy another whole assembly instead of a fork, tire, and labor to change it over.

I think it's probably easier & less work to change out the fork,
than to remove the complete t/w assembly from the tailspring & install another.
I've never had to remove mine, but I've heard horror stories about getting them off.
Besides, buying a new fork and wheel/tire/tube set-up is way less expensive than buying a complete t/w assembly.

Before you spend any money chasing tailwheel shimmy it’s best to give this drawing a reference.


Usually Not a problem with 185 stingers but you never know…

Thanks all, lots of good info here

Ross,

I've been reading this post and I may be able to assist. In Dec 2012, I purchased new and installed an ABI-3400B wide fork with a 400-4 Aero Classic tire (also have a baby bush wheel) on my C180K. Flew 169 hours, removed and reinstalled my XP 10" fork and wheel assembly July 1, 2014. Just sitting in the hangar, let me know if interested.

Bruce

I installed an Airframes tailwheel shimmy dampener assembly at the same time I threw on the baby bush tailwheel and I couldn't be happier. Upgraded from an ABW 10" to the baby bush and had heard the same concerns about shimmy with the new assembly. The damper works as advertised with no adverse handling noted in the 50 hours I've flown it. Great to have the float on some of the softer areas we land on and it helps dampen the vibrations on the tail.

This is the one I installed on my 55 with the Airframes heavy stinger:

https://www.airframesalaska.com/Tailwhe ... eg-111.htm

wings67 wrote:I installed an Airframes tailwheel shimmy dampener assembly at the same time I threw on the baby bush tailwheel and I couldn't be happier. Upgraded from an ABW 10" to the baby bush and had heard the same concerns about shimmy with the new assembly. The damper works as advertised with no adverse handling noted in the 50 hours I've flown it. Great to have the float on some of the softer areas we land on and it helps dampen the vibrations on the tail.

This is the one I installed on my 55 with the Airframes heavy stinger:

https://www.airframesalaska.com/Tailwhe ... eg-111.htm

Saw one of these on a 185 the other day and didn't know what it was. This is the first I've heard of it, but about time someone designed that!

This is the one I installed on my 55 with the Airframes heavy stinger:

https://www.airframesalaska.com/Tailwhe ... eg-111.htm

Excellent! I have so far tamed the shimmy with careful attention to bearing load and wheel friction, but it’s good to know there’s another method out there. I had a lot of trouble with an ABI shimmying tailwheel on a Bearhawk, that I never conquered.

Re JRC's 6/4/22 post above:
I had off-and-on shimmy issues with the 10" XP t/w on my 180.
I read a FB post that mentioned the p/n 3407 shim under the big bearing at the top of the fork.
I added one and the shimmy pretty much went away.
It's about loading the bearing without tightening down the compression springs too much.
Like most t/w adjustments, it will likely involve some trial and error.
That said, the fat t/w's are somewhat notorious for shimmying.
IMHO unless you really need the flotation, or the cool look,
you might be better off with a plain old 10" t/w.

Prices sure have changed. Conversion to BBW is $1200, that’s what I remember. But, a complete set up is $2800! I swear I paid under $1700 for a complete 10” assembly in 2017.

StillLearning wrote:Prices sure have changed. Conversion to BBW is $1200, that’s what I remember. But, a complete set up is $2800! I swear I paid under $1700 for a complete 10” assembly in 2017.

It's still only $1800 for a complete 10" tailwheel assembly... $100 increase in 5 years does not seem outrageous

https://www.airframesalaska.com/3450-10 ... -3450-00(s).htm