Dan; I have no experience in this area at all, but I just read the Sport Av
article on the ten best homebuilts, and it reminded me of the Wittman Tailwind.
Steve made his gear out of tapered steel rods, and they are some of the best by
reputation. The Grumman Tiger blanks, if cut down the middle, should have many
of the traits of the steel rod gear, including spring fore-and-aft (impact), in
bending across the narrow dimension (bounce), and torsional spring around the
long axis of the leg (toe-in and out). This should produce the same traits as
the steel tapered-rod gear. Additionally, the glass-fibre matrix should absorb
energy and provide some damping as it deflects. All this by way of suggesting
that the gear should be modified by cutting a blank in half to create a nearly
rectangular cross section at the wheel attachment (1 in x 1 1/2 in). Peter
