The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Got an email from Airframes Alaska advertising a new hydraulic shimmy dampener for 3200 tailwheels, including the 170: Tailwheel Shimmy Dampener

Only $950 I am definitely _not_ in the market. I don't think 170s with properly maintained tailwheels have much of a reputation for shimmy, but maybe somebody will find it useful.

Of all the things to spend money on development hoping for a return. This would never be on my list.

Bruces’ response says it best.

I used to think anything Airframes Alaska would likely be superior to anyone/anything else.

Will Rogers was correct. They should have kept quiet.

Shawn asks Doug “what causes tailwheel shimmy?”

Doug catches himself when he almost gives the correct/complete answer…. then Laurel and Hardy demonstrate their traditional self-destructional activities…. but it’s no longer funny.

Dougs’ boat takes on water because the drain-plug is not installed…so he adds a super-duper bilge-pump.

I am so sad.

Pssst! Hey! Shawn! Pilots do NOT desire weight added to the extreme tail-end of their airplanes! (2:50 to 3:00 in the video) Hey, Shawn…is that Titanium tailwheel spring you’ve got designed to reduce taiwheel weight? Huh?

I’m surprised that the demo video does not show a baby bushwheel. None of the usual solutions to calm shimmy seem to work unless I put the tailwheel down at a very low speed. It will even shimmy taxiing fast. I have not tried the glider tire which some say is better. I assume this is their target market. That said I won’t be purchasing one soon, I just install the bushwheel if I really need it and try to avoid pavement.

daedaluscan wrote:I’m surprised that the demo video does not show a baby bushwheel. None of the usual solutions to calm shimmy seem to work unless I put the tailwheel down at a very low speed. It will even shimmy taxiing fast. I have not tried the glider tire which some say is better. I assume this is their target market. That said I won’t be purchasing one soon, I just install the bushwheel if I really need it and try to avoid pavement.

Charlie, I presume you’ve got the correct “positive” caster? And an ordinary tire on a Scott 3200? (I’ve witnessed a chineese tire/tube/combo that was so out-of-blance it “hopped” giving the pilot the sensation of shimmy. Although he didn’t admit it, I suspect he also had some kind of “goo” in it as a defense against thorns.) Tension (not compression) springs?

Not sure my post was clear. I have two complete tailwheels. I have zero shimmy problems with a regular 3200 and the cheap tire from Spruce. Nothing works for the baby bushwheel on pavement except being super slow. I have heard that replacing the baby bushwheel with a glider tire helps, but I have not tried that yet

My baby bush-wheel has a pretty nasty shimmy since new. My old gar aero tail-wheel and glider tire (pre-curser to the baby bush-wheel) was the same. Both were used with brand new leaf springs to eliminate the castor angle variable.

I’ve tried to stop using my tailwheel for anything but taxiing. I also won’t by buying a dampener.

daedaluscan wrote:I’m surprised that the demo video does not show a baby bushwheel. None of the usual solutions to calm shimmy seem to work unless I put the tailwheel down at a very low speed. It will even shimmy taxiing fast. I have not tried the glider tire which some say is better. I assume this is their target market. That said I won’t be purchasing one soon, I just install the bushwheel if I really need it and try to avoid pavement.

Well, that might explain it. They apparently have a product in the baby bushwheel that may require more dampening that a 3200 design can provide (following daedaluscan's comment). Guess their marketing department may not be up to speed with the product purpose as its shown it with a standard fork and wheel.

Nathaniel,
I see from your recent post on empty weight that you added this shimmy dampner. How do you like it?

I'm very happy with it. Easy install, does what it says. Even with a new spring pack installed and correct angle and new tailwheel setup, new tyre, whole nine yards...it's more prone to shimmy than not unless the tail is set down as slow as possible. Ground handling isn't affected at all either, I thought steering during taxi would get harder it handles the same.

We can chase down every last reason for a shimmy, but if you have well maintained equipment and correct angle, good spring pack, then why go chasing your tail (no pun intended) when this solves your problem? Looks like Airframes Alaska still hasn't fixed their website....shows $950 when added to the cart but the actual price is $1095. If you get one for 950 let me know and I'll try and get some $$ back from them!