Originally Posted by sjhanc

mihelone,
On your tracking problem, I have always flown off of grass with little difficulty on take off or landing. Recently I joined a new club with a very nice hard top runway, long and wide. Naturally I'm using the opportunity to practice my To&lndgs which have never been consistent on hard top. Instead of getting better I found I was doing worse in each session. I had noticed a while back that the gear struts would sometimes compress and stay down about 1/4 inch. In looking for some reason my takeoff and landing skills I decided to check that out. With the plane inverted on its stand I compressed each strut and they would not extend fully on their own. I also found that while in this partially compressed state the wheels could turn easily either way off center. I disassembled both struts and found the lube had turned sticky and could not be wiped off, it would tear a paper towel. Also 1 of the scissors links was sloppy and 2 of the pins had measurable wear where the scissors rode on them. I keep scissors as spare parts so that was not a problem but I didn't have spare pins except in a new retract set I hadn't installed in its plane yet. They got robbed and i'll order some spare pins from Robart. It is still pretty cold here in Fla. (30 F) so I did not want to use lube that might get stiff in the cold. I went to the auto parts store and found some cable-chain lube and after applying that where it was needed I put it all back together. Last weekend my club had their annual electric event and it was COLD on Saturday. I did grass landing Sat. with no problems and went back Sunday to try the hardtop runway under better conditions. I was able to do a long slowly accelerating takeoff run concentrating on steering until it lifted off on its own(I have up trim mixed with takeoff flaps). The landing was the best hard top landing I have ever done with a slight hop at touch down and I kept the power on all the way to the end where it slowed enough for the tail to come down. It ran off the end into the grass about 15 feet but I had no trouble keeping it reasonably straight until stopped. I almost decided to go drag it back by hand being afraid of a possible nose over but went ahead and taxied it back ok.
I keep my wheels aligned straight ahead with no toe and I check alignment before each event.
I would recommend that you check your struts for these possible problems.