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My tailwheel rod was not snug enough for me. That is why I bonded it in.

Thanks much Chris for posting the photos! It is appreciated.
And thanks Peter for his explaination. I do uinderstand what you are saying. When I install the titanium rod at first build, the inside of the mount was indeed inspected for weld slag and other things that would have caus3d a very localized stress point. As I recall there were nothing other that slag and that was removed. I did not have to even lightly tap the rod in to place, so it was a free fit, so to speak. I reinspected the bore again and found nothing visable. I took note that the point of failure was no where near where the internal weld slag was. Could there have been some debries that had gotten into that area in the several years of it being dormant in my shop while I built other things? I dont know. I also dont think so, but my shop is like a lot of auto shops, not spic and span all the time.

Thanks for your input also Mike. I will freely admit that I am not a structural engineer, but do have a little understanding about what is being said. I shall 'test' the chromomly tube spring very carefully, and may even order another titanium spring.

If anyone else has any input of any kind about the steel tube and its sutiability for this use, please let me know!Thanks again to all!

Joe

Bryan Cotton wrote:My tailwheel rod was not snug enough for me. That is why I bonded it in.

Mine wasn't snug either, so I used a bit of shim stock to fill the gap.

short update. I have finished the steel spring, bounced it several times from about 6 inches and it deflected way more that I expected. That is un-nerving, so with that said, and all of the other input, and Kerrys comments, I am going to replace with titanium, and attempt to elliminate any play within the mount socket. I shall further inspect the failure point much more carefully to identify anything on the rod itself that could have started a crack. I shall add another update in the days to come, one way or the other.

Thanks again for all the very valid input!

Joe