what is side rudder steering? I was told that the best way to use a tail wheel on one of my planes was to attach it to the side rudder? HUH??????

Are you sure he didn't say" attach it to the side of the rudder " or "inside the rudder" or " beside the rudder"?

What type of plane do you have?

Many people attach the tail wheel to the rudder thus having better steering capabilities while on the ground.

P.S. little more info next time.

ORIGINAL POST
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_63...tm.htm#6341337

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFV47

I have no idea what siderudder is. It must be Swedish

that is alot like the setup i already have

it is a lot like the setup you already have, the difference is that the tail wheel itself is under the rudder. it is still mounted on the fuselage but the wheel extends out behind the fuse and is attached to the rudder via springs one on each side of the rudder. When the rudder is moved it extends one spring and the one on the other side is compressed. the advantage is that
A) with the tail wheel extending backwards it will tend to track straighter. think of the shape of castering wheels on a shopping cart, when you push the cart they will sort of trail behind. Also it provides a sort of shock absorbing effect thus taking stress off of the attach point.

B) the springs also greatly reduce the stress on your rudder and hinges as your bouncing along the ground.

all that said though, minn is right that as long as your wheel and rudder are straight with each other then all is well. Our friend from Sweden is also right that there is a better way to do it, though yours is functional it adds more stress on the plane than needs to be.

Maybe similar, but not the same. Depends on how picky you want to be. You can get yours to work or you can go for something a little cleaner.

Forget the word "Siderudder"; or, it's derivatives from the thread you've referenced.

I see there is a threaded pushrod and clevis on the connection between the rudder horn and the tail wheel control horn. Adjust this clevis (shorter or longer) to make the tailwheel track straight when the rudder is in neutral.

If you dont have a flat filed or ground on your tail wheel wire strut where the control horn attaches, the wheel/strut may still rotate and not stay true. The set screw in the control horn needs a flat surface to seat against.

I think this "siderudder" thing is as apposed to horizontal rudders (elevators). Ive a seen a couple cases now, of a friend from across the big pond, referring to the all the tail control surfaces as rudders. They must fly knife edge a lot.

Cheers.

I think siderudder is a swedish translation, like most germanic languages, the native word is an amalgamation of a couple words to give a good description, problem is, we don't have an equivalent with that level of description.

All that said, instead of your wheel wire extending straight down, bend it so it trails the pivot point, like the caster that was described earlier. I think your setup will track well if this is done.

Good luck,
Curtis