Toe brakes and castoring tailwheel

[sonex892.]

I installed toe brakes a few months ago. I copied John Gillis's idea (Thanks John). The fuel valve is in the way on my plane so I made a mirrored, left and right set of pedals.

Soon after the brakes were sorted I started working on a fully castoring steerable tailwheel. I replaced a stock standard 4" tailwheel and steering pushrod, which after 700 + landings were still in remarkably good shape. The price of that simplicity is noise, rough ride and huge turning circle.

I've only flown a few times with the tailwheel, but so far so good. I had some help from Peter Anson for the wheel design. I used the same size wheel and pnuematic tire as Pete sells. Rod ends on the steering arm are Aurora CM-4S, no bending of the rod was required. Used a #2 taperpin to connect the pivot shaft to the castor.

The benefits are, Taxying maneuverability It can turn on a dime if needed. Smoother and quieter ride and increased visibility. I dont have to pick up the tail any more to move it around the hanger. My major concern was raising the tail so high, that turned out to be a non event.

Total weight increase over the stock tailwheel, 400 grams.

[Waiex 49]

Nice job on your toe brakes and castoring tailwheel!

I installed the toe brakes with the Sonex disc brakes.

I just received a full swivel tailwheel from Fly Boy Accessories and plan to install it soon.

Dfferential braking was a big improvement and I am looking forward to having a full swivel tailwheel on my Waiex.

Fly safe,

Don Bowen
Viking Waiex N49YX

[rizzz]

Nice job on your toe brakes and castoring tailwheel!

I installed the toe brakes with the Sonex disc brakes.

I just received a full swivel tailwheel from Fly Boy Accessories and plan to install it soon.

Dfferential braking was a big improvement and I am looking forward to having a full swivel tailwheel on my Waiex.

Fly safe,

Don Bowen
Viking Waiex N49YX

I thought FlyBoy Accessories did not sell the full swivel castor for the Sonex anymore, do you have a link for this Don?
Thanks,
Michael

[WaiexN143NM]

Hi all, michael,
I found the fly boy accessories out door display this year at airventure behind the vans aircraft display. Years prior, they had an indoor booth. They fixed up a big box van with a folding side opening.maybe an old food truck? Any way good to see blake and his father, vince. Was chatting to blake about the steering link rod, then discussing the full swivel tail wheel for sonex. They have an improved one, so i let don bowen know about it, because hes been looking for one. Presto...they shipped one to don as soon as they got back to indiana. Great folks. I think they enjoyed being outside this year. I cant stand the indoor buildings after awhile being inside. Usually one a day is all i can handle. Lots of tire kickers, not buyers.

WaiexN143NM
Michael

[Waiex 49]

Hi all,

Fly Boy Accessories is now back in the Sonex tailwheel business.

Problem is, their web page descriptions of their tailwheel products doesn't say "Sonex" so it was kind of hard for me to figure what I needed.

No worries, Blake is great to work with. Tell him you are looking for a Sonex tailwheel setup and he will get you what you want. Oh yes, let him know if you want a 4" or 6" wheel.

Blake's contact info can be found at:

http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/aboutus.asp

I am very impressed with the quality of the tailwheel assembly I received. Top quality stuff.

Don Bowen
Viking Waiex N49YX

[fastj22]

I installed toe brakes a few months ago. I copied John Gillis's idea (Thanks John). The fuel valve is in the way on my plane so I made a mirrored, left and right set of pedals.

Soon after the brakes were sorted I started working on a fully castoring steerable tailwheel. I replaced a stock standard 4" tailwheel and steering pushrod, which after 700 + landings were still in remarkably good shape. The price of that simplicity is noise, rough ride and huge turning circle.

I've only flown a few times with the tailwheel, but so far so good. I had some help from Peter Anson for the wheel design. I used the same size wheel and pnuematic tire as Pete sells. Rod ends on the steering arm are Aurora CM-4S, no bending of the rod was required. Used a #2 taperpin to connect the pivot shaft to the castor.

The benefits are, Taxying maneuverability It can turn on a dime if needed. Smoother and quieter ride and increased visibility. I dont have to pick up the tail any more to move it around the hanger. My major concern was raising the tail so high, that turned out to be a non event.

Total weight increase over the stock tailwheel, 400 grams.

Good improvement. Your pedals are far more refined than mine.
Beware, they will be beating a path to your hangar to create some.
On the Flyboys, I talked to them at OSH. They had a few stingers that would mount their tail wheels to a Sonex. The tailwheels are Vans standard or ones they create. The concern was height of the wheel and AOA at 3 point.
My friend Mike bought the stinger from them, and the Vans Tailwheel assembly to harvest the fork for the 6 inch wheel from it. We haven't fitted it yet, but it looks promising. I also offered to "sell" (give me a spare tailwheel assembly) them my pedal design so they can produce them professionally and give Sonex drivers a complete solution. I'm not in the business of building Sonex parts, just thought my design was pretty clever and functional.

[flyboyaccessories]

Hello folks!

Just wanted to chime in here as a fair number of people are seeing this thread and have some questions for us about using our tailwheels.

As many of you know, we've been making tailwheels for the RV crowd for some time, and at one time had a setup that was specifically for the Sonex and related aircraft. At present, the sockets we have for mounting the tailwheel to the titanium spring are the same geometry as the RV items, which is actually not really compatible with the Sonex configuration (the Sonex tail spring is set at a steeper angle than the RVs are, so the shaft of the tailwheel ends up being swept forward of vertical and puts a cant in the tire when the fork swivels to turn). Not to worry... we've got some good feedback from the fine folks in the Sonex community and we are working on making a new mounting socket that will be much more suitable for the Sonex configuration. It will probably take us a month or two to get production up and running on these items, as this piece involves several steps with several different people.

Moral of the story is this: if you're interested in putting one of our assemblies on a Sonex, we would be happy to help. For now, the best thing to do is get in touch with us by email at blake@flyboyaccessories.com to let us know you're out there and looking to upgrade. For most of you, my recommendation is still going to be to go with a smaller fork (our Eaglet Racer is an evolution of the fork we made for Sonex earlier on) and a 4" tire. Our larger forks accommodate a 6" tire, but also raise the tail significantly, which will likely prompt a change to larger main tires to correct AOA.

As soon as we have something viable for the Sonex, I will post an update here, and add a complete kit and section to our store that makes it clear that we've got things for the Sonex.