Heavy Duty tailwheel mod - photos

[Battson]

Fatigue cracking on a tailwheel spring pictured here on the Bearhawk (circa 600hrs heavy use) - with a leaf spring you can fly away from this problem.
With a stinger this would be more problematic, although who knows how much it would take to crack a stinger.

[Rspencer]

Well I bought a 4a, and had this strap. Took off the tailwheel and completely rebuilt the Scott 3216 and baby bushwheel. While off, I had two bushings like above machined from T6-6061 aluminum 1.25” round stock with a .75” flat face against the leaf spring. AN4 hardware, and a 1/8” lower steel strap. All painted in epoxy and drying now for assembly this weekend. Looking forward to the “power steering.” Haha. But I fly mostly off airport and river bars, so wanted the spring system to be as tough as possible. Thanks for the description and reviews!