Aermotor A402RA - Wagging Tail

[61hawk]

I noticed my Aermotor A402RA tail was wagging in the breeze yesterday while the sail was stationary. I climbed up to take a look and there is a lot of grease around the lower pin that holds the tail to the mill and it looks like the cast bracket that is riveted to the tailbone had some slop in the bracket. I'm going to climb up and take a closer look today but was wondering if there should be any slop in the tail or if things should all be tight. I really hope I don't have to bring the tail down to repair but that's what I'm guessing will need to be done.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Do you need more tension on your spring ?

[61hawk]

It's possible. I went up this morning and found a couple things. There is some slop around the pin that holds the bottom of the tail, there is some slop in the rivet that holds the cast bracket onto the tail bottom rail. But I also found that my brake is in pieces.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

OUCH !! Hopefully it can be welded finding another brake is going to be tough. Not to many parts out there for open gear Aermoters.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Forgot to mention you might want to fix the problem with the loose pin on the tailbone before that cast piece breaks. I'm sure that would be tough to find also.

[61hawk]

Update: I was able to find all of the pieces to the broken brake... so worst case scenario I may be able to have the part welded back together. But would prefer to find another one.

[windybob]

If I remember, I got mine from Dan B.

[61hawk]

Thanks Windybob, I sent you a PM and also sent Dan a PM but for some reason both are just sitting in the Outbox and never move to Sent. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[windybob]

In that section, the message won't jump to the sent box until the recipient reads it. In case someone else is wondering.