I am in the middle of putting together my GWS E-Starter and am ready to put on the tailwheel. From what I have read, many people find that it is too weak. I am a little concerned since this is my first aileron plane and I may not be too gentle with it. It looks as if the hinges are going to be supporting most of the weight.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to strengthen it? (A picture is worth a 1000 words.)

Instead of using the stock tail wheel, I used a Du-Bro (p/n 853) piece to make it a true tail dragger. It protects the delicate rudder parts an d it kept it out of the crusty snow on landing. I leveled out a small platform and secured it with Flash CA. Do install the part to stiffen the Rudder. Good Luck.

Can the airplane still stear when taking off? It does sound tougher, but I enjoy takeoffs and landings.

Ive been threw 2 estarters now and have yet to break the tail wheel . I have broken just about every thing else on it though. I just put a little epoxy around it and it seems fine

It works good enough for me. The rudder has good authority throughout a take-off run. It never spun around to bite me yet. Good Luck.