Post 14: $40 Bush Gear: Engineering the Canyon Lightning™ Tail Spring

April 23, 2026

Would you trust a $40 tail wheel over an $800 one?

I've had enough of the $800-$2000 price tags for "certified" tailwheel assemblies. If I'm going to build a high performance bush plane for under $2,000 I've got to out-engineer the status quo.

The Build (Phase 1): Today I finished the core of the Canyon Lightning™ tail spring. This isn't a Z-bend piece of heavy aluminum that's going to sag after three landings.

🛠 Vertical lamination: I used 5 layers of 1/8" Douglas Fir, glued with T88 and formed over a custom radius mold. This creates "structural memory" -- it wants to stay in this curve and act as a true leaf spring.

🛠Integrated mounts: The mounting blocks are already epoxied in, creating a unitized hard point for the tailwheel fork.

🛠The cost: Between the wood, resin, foam mold, and the tailwheel I just ordered, I'm into this entire assembly for less than $40.

Why the curve?

Traditional metal gear has weak spots at every bend. This continuous curve distributes the impact of a rough desert landing across the entire structure. There is no single point of failure.

Next step: I'll be lashing this to the fuselage and doing a multi-layer structural carbon wrap. Stay tuned for the weight reveal and the rest of the tailwheel design. It's going to be a record breaker.

Follow me for the rest of the tailwheel build and, coming soon, the main gear build! https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570796915215