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I want to do this the "other" way. Most people want to convert their tailwheel to nose wheel. but I want to do it the other way. What are the parts differences to change my kit from nosewheel to tailwheel? I have not built the fuselage yet, so there are no issues with undoing work already done. I have decided to lose the weight and the drag since I have lots of tailwheel time in Sonex and Onex and many others. In fact if anyone has a kit with those parts and wishes to build theirs as a nosewheel, we can exchange parts.!
Ed, Lancsaster, SC

If you haven't built the fuselage yet it should be very straightforward.... different engine mount, and the tailwheel spring/wheel caster assembly. You won't need the main landing gear mounts for the TRI since they are integrated into the tailwheel engine mount. I think the aft fuselage steel supports for the tail skid on the tri are the same as the tailwheel?

Parts differences? Most of the parts differences are in the welded parts. For those you will need:
A new engine mount
A new tailwheel skid
A tailwheel pivot fitting
A tailwheel castor
A tail wheel pushrod

In addition you will need longer titanium gear legs,new gear leg fairings, and of course a tailwheel. I don't remember if the rudder horn is different for a taildragger since the tailwheel push rod connects to it.

I don't have any connection to the seller but there is someone selling a taildragger motor mount on barnstormers right now for $500 just north of you in Virginia. That's an awesome price considering a new one is $1900 plus shipping.

Keith
#554

Keith, thanks for the detail. I expect the longer gear legs are going to be expensive. I saw the ad on Barnstormers for the motor mount but without longer gear legs it wont do me much good. I am already flying a nosedragger with Corvair 120 hp, so I wanted to build this one as a taildragger.
Ed

The gear legs might not be as bad as you think. Check out titanium joe online. He sells surplus titanium products. A number of us scratch builders have bought cut to length titanium bar stock from him for a good bit less than the factory price.

Keith
#554