The tailwheel steering has been acting up lately. There is a spring loaded plunger that connects the tailwheel to the rudder, until the full rudder is applied when the tailwheel is allowed to fully swivel. I took it apart after I flew on Sunday a week ago, and brought the plunger home to touch up on the Scotchbrite wheel. I thought the large radius on the end was prompting it to slip out of the slot in the tailwheel control arm. I removed some material to make the end more square, with small radii on the corners. Early Thursday morning before work I zipped over to the hangar, cleaned, lubricated and reassembled the tailwheel. I did a short test flight, and while its behaviour was a bit better, it still would unlock when it shouldn't have. There must be some other issue that I haven't found yet. I have ordered a new plunger, and I'll take the whole thing apart and give it another big inspection once that part arrives.

The drain valve on the bottom of the gascolator had started to drip a bit, so I ordered a new one. It arrived on Friday, and I replaced it and cleaned the screen in the gascolator on Saturday, then went for a short flight. The winds were blowing a bit from the left, so I took advantage of the gusty crosswind to get some practice. The crosswind component was about 8 kt gusting to 15. The take offs and landings went very well - much, much nicer than a week ago.

I've started planning the Trio autopilot installation, figuring out which wing leveler wires I can reuse, and what new wires I will need to run.