REFLECTOR: Nosewheel shimmy_1

[Steve Goldman]

Ron Brown wrote:

> However, the mass balance idea has been used on Vans RV's by adding 
> weight in the front of the nose wheel fairing.  By the way, we are not 
> the only folks that suffer from nose wheel shimmy.  Vans, Lancairs, and 
> F15's which all have castering nose gears.  The Google search shows that 
> this has been a LONNNNNNGGGG time issue!

So the Grumman's have a castering nose wheel and this comes up in the Grumman
forum maybe once a year. It is always loose belleville washers. The manual
set a 15-20 side force requirement which seems to solve the problem. This
is nowhere near tight enough to make steering a problem, my Tiger can turn
in place no problem. Even when people do have shimmy I've never heard of
it causing a nose gear failure.

So since joining this forum in Jan. this is probably the 3rd time it has
come up here. So what is the big difference(s) that makes it so much worse
for Velocities?

My guess is that you can land a Tiger in full stall so you can easily keep
the nose wheel off the ground (though many can't). Lower landing speed (65kts).
It is also common to have a wheel fairing which might help though I doubt it.

-- 
Steve Goldman
'77 Tiger N28531
Velocity XL5-RG (T-3496hrs)
Pittsboro, NC (9NC8)