REFLECTOR: Shimmy on landing

[Christopher Martin]

I was surprised that no one mentioned wheel balance.

While it is absolutely required to have proper tension on the bevel washers
it is also mandatory to balance the nose wheel to prevent shimmy. An out of
balance wheel will create a peak shimmy at a specific speed and then
diminish. One of our fellow velocity pilots had a significant shimmy
problem which he couldn't correct. He tried everything. I picked up the
nose of the plane and slid a saw horse under it , then spun up the wheel
with a tire spinner, as the wheel spun down it started to shake and then
built into a significant shaking of the whole plane. Not only was it out of
balance it was also out of round. We replaced the front tire and balanced
the wheel and tire. It completely eliminated the shimmy. If you don't have
the equipment, take the wheel and tire over to a tire shop and ask them to
balance it.

Christopher Martin
christophercmartin at earthlink.net



> [Original Message]
> From: RICHARD J VANDERSTEEN <rvandersteen at sbcglobal.net>
> To: Velocity Aicraft Owners and Builder list <reflector at tvbf.org>
> Date: 4/8/2006 8:49:00 PM
> Subject: REFLECTOR: Shimmy on landing
>
> Any advice on what to check after a shimmy event on
> landing an XL-RG.
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