Early in 2021 I decided to go with a Pekola 'Tundra Lite' tailwheel. There are a bunch of reasons for this (some of which a lot of folks on the forum dispute).
- Easier install. No steering cables to pass through the fuselage, just a locking cable.
- Less prone to ground looping (this is the comment that is in dispute on the forum. The Sportsman is a very nice handling tail dragger, and the general consensus is a locking tailwheel is not needed)
- Cheaper than a baby bush wheel
- Looks awesome.
My tailwheel is installed on a Airframes Alaska T3 mount (which is also kick ass and awesome, and not in dispute).
The tailwheel has a locking mechanism that when engaged, locks the tailwheel aft. This means two things (1) no steering when locked, and (2) you need a handle to lock/unlock in the cockpit.
So incorporating two mods into one, I am hoping to mount the lock in Zach's overhead console.
The cable exits the lock, and then goes into a plate with a grommet that is hose clamped to the overhead cross tube. Then transitions back, through another grommet in the overhead console cover. From there my plan is to use tie wrap mounts every 6 or 8", another grommet on Bulkhead A, and then to the back of the aircraft.
From Bulkhead A rearward, I marked all the locations where the tie wrap pads were going to attach, and cleaned the locations.
Pads where placed, then tie wraps inserted. Then the difficult job of joining the tie wrap ends with the cable attached. If I was smart, I would have formed the tie wrap loop when installing the pads. Too late now.
Ended up having to crawl in feet first to attach the forward ties, then crawl out and reverse and go in head first to tie the aft. Cable is in the loops now, but tie wraps not yet tightened.
Next is cable length and installation.
Control end: This part is pretty easy. The cable is attached to the control with 2 set screws. The galvanized cable (cannot use stainless steel) that came with the tailwheel must be 'tinned' with solder by building a solder 'well', and dipping the cable in for ~10 seconds, then immediately wiping it down. Luckily Jim Pekola does this on the cable that ships, but it must be redone when the end is cut. I used a steel pipe coupling and and end cap, heated with a propane torch.
Tailwheel end: with the control end connected and flush to the end of the cable, and the tie wraps tightened, the tailwheel end must be cut to fit into the sheath retainer. The cable needs to extend 3 7/16" beyond the sheath.
All done, and it works. Need to adjust the tension on the 'break free' mechanism, but that is for later on in the build.
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