yeah, i would agree, there are much better ways to keep the tail rotor on, but if you do that, and you are still getting alot of strikes, it is likely something else will then break.

About your spindle.... it sounds like something is not being put together properly. I've never had that happen, and I don't use lock tite. I do check them after about every 10 flights or so, but I've never had them loose. Double check your setup and make sure that everything is going together, and if you're still having troubles then use some medium loctite, or in other words the kind that is non permanant.