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Its annual time and I am looking for some clarification on how the Tailwheel Oleo and Coil Spring are supposed to act. Not a lot of local l5 owners in my neighborhood to compare it to!
I jacked up the tail of the L5 and with the tailwheel fully extended, I can grab the Coil Spring and slide it up and down 2 1/2 inches from stop to stop. Should the Coil Spring be tight against the stops when fully extended and mine is squished and worn in need of replacing or repairing?
Second question. The Oleo needed oil and I filled it per T.O.
I can grab the tailwheel and slowly but easily lift it, feeling the dampening effect, to its compressed position till it hits the Coil Spring. When I let go of it it drops quickly with no damping.
What are your thoughts? Is this the way it is designed to operate or do I get to start a tailwheel gear rebuild? Standing by to learn. Thanks for your help in advance. Ed
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Looking at the drawings, there is only .001″ clearance between the strut body id and the od of the piston. Drawings don’t show there to be a seal on the piston itself. Being it’s made out of an aluminum bronze alloy, I would suspect that it has worn enough that it passes oil too fast. The od on the piston shows to be 1.249″, on the drawing, and the tube id to be 1.250″.
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Can’t thank you enough Craig. Thank you for taking the time and answering the questions I could not answer myself.
Here is the update.
Tore the entire tail gear out. Rebuilt the strut by cleaning, hand polishing the surfaces and installing new O-rings. I chose to fill it with 85-90 gear oil for stiffer action. Works just the way I want it to now. My spring measurement is 11.5 inches and in the l5 it is just there as a soft stop to limit strut compression so the spring is good. I cut and installed two 1/4 inch thick rubber bumper washers on each side of the spring for quietness. Easy to cut out if I decide I don’t want them later. Working on re-bushing all holes now.
Bought a new Scott 3200 (ouch) and sent that and my original housing to Sam Taber for his tailwheel upgrade. I already have the brake update on this plane so why not bring it all up to date? Look forward to getting that back and on the plane and hopefully put the known L5 tailwheel issues behind me (no pun intended).
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