Many of our customers who love our tailwheels so much, have been begging us to come out with a larger, Tundra version for those who like to land in soft sand or rocky river beds. So with demand being high,  Bob went to work on the Bearhawk tailwheel drawings and redesigned his robest tailwheel to be even larger and even more robust.  The result is our all new Tundra Tailwheel!

The Tundra Tailwheel Features
The steel forks are beefed up with thicker 4130n steel as is the main cross tube at the top of the forks.  The forks are made 1" wider to accomodate that big, wide 400 x 4 tire, and longer to so the 12" tall tire will fit.  It's taller, wider and beefier than our standard tailwheel.

Please Note:  It is highly recommended that the Tundra Tailwheels be used only on airplanes that fly primarily off of grass or dirt strips of for off-airport work. The larger tailwheels do have a tendency to shimmy on asphalt.

Below is a picture of the Tundra Tailwheel mounted on Marks Bearhawk.  


Flight Testing the Tundra
The Prototype Tundra Tailwheel was mounted to Mark Goldberg's Bearhawk which has some large Tundra tires on the mains currently.   It was flight tested by Bob Barrows and several takeoffs and landings were conducted on all types of surfaces and crosswinds.  We found that the Tundra tailwheel performed well but required the friction control be tightened to eliminate shimmy tendencies on grooved runways. It was slammed down on landings, swearve tested and it was well behaved in all tests.


Is the TundraTailwheel Right for You?
Basically if your main landing gear tires are larger than 8.50 x 6, and most of your flying is done on non-paved runways, we suggest that you go with the Tundra Tailwheel.  This will get your tail up slightly and visibility over the nose is improved a bit.  It also balances out the look of the airplane with larger Tundra type tires on the mains. Another factor to consider is what type of flyng are you doing.  If you land on soft sand beaches, muddy fields or rocky riverbeds, the Tundra is the right tire for you.

Please note, the Tundra does have a tendency to shimmy on asphalt or cement runways unless you tighten the friction adjustment.  We do recommend that the Tundra be used primarily for off airport or grass or dirt runways only.