Shimmy in the 152

chrisesp

chrisesp

New Member
Ok I was just remembering my first solo, and I remember that everytime I touched down, and pressed the breaks the plane started to shake very violently, and on my third time I thought the plane was going to fall apart. My instructor said it may be the shimmy in the nose gear, but do you guys have any clues as to what may have been going on. It was done in McKinney, TX, a very nice airport.
 
It's common. Have the mechanic re-inflate the nose strut, other than that, hold the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible during the landing roll and continue to hold back pressure until you stop the plane. Hold a lot of back pressure on the takeoff roll too. That should stop it.
 
Yep, that's the Cessna Shimmy Shimmy Shake!!

It happens if theres a bit of a side load on the nose gear as it settles to the runway. Later Cessna's have a shimmy dampener (which it a little shock absober attached to the nose gear) to help minimize this... but alot of the 152's I've flown, it's not much help...

Sometimes it helps to pick the nose wheel back up and put it down again with no side load... else you just have to deal with it until you taxi off the runway and stop, then it should go away...
 
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What is happening when it does that?

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the gear is just a bit off balance due to a bit of a side load... not much to worry about, but like mentioned above, if it is REALLY bad get a mechanic to look at it.
 
most of the cessna's ive flown have "inop" shimmy dampeners. either they or they jsut don'w work with a S%$%#
 
The bird I normally fly (a 172) had an inop shimmy dampner for about 2 months. The most annoying thing possible. But, they fixed so it is all good now. There is actually a little bar that gets torqued down to hold the spring type thing in place. Apparently the bar gets pushed up out of the way sometimes and the spring no longer works. Or so I was told.

Ethan
 
According to oneCFI with(37000 hours . . .not a typo) most every Cessna trycycle gear landing should be done like a soft field landing. He says if you own the airplane, by landing like that you will greatly reduce the wear and tear on your little nose gear.
 
I've flown a lot of Cessna's with questionable shimmy dampners. Scared the bejesus out of me the first time I landed in one.
 
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I've flown a lot of Cessna's with questionable shimmy dampners. Scared the bejesus out of me the first time I landed in one.

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First time it happened to me I thought I must have hit the prop! It also caused my alt to quit
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. . . I had to recycle it.
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Happens in tailwheel planes too, when the wheel is spring controlled. If not just right, pick the tail back up a bit and set it down straight. Same thing can be done with a nosedragger. You are landing nose high anyhow, just keep it there longer. Helps to slow down that way without needing as much brakes, so all is good.

Seems every 172 I've been in has a front shimmy problem, if the damper was not just serviced/repaired in like the last 10hrs of use.
 
I've been lucky. The oldest cessna I've flown was a 2000 172S and those things seem to be pretty good about it. They had shimmy dampners and ours worked alright, u'd get a nice shake for a second or two but is smoothed out rather quickly. Unless I'm doing a short field landing I don't climb on the breaks and hold pressure off the nosewheel so that usually keeps it pretty happy.
 
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I've been lucky. The oldest cessna I've flown was a 2000 172S and those things seem to be pretty good about it.

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Man, you're missing out. Those ol' 70s models can be a lot of fun. They've got a TON of personality, which usually takes the form of duct tape and/or nosewheel shimmy during taxi.
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Man, you're missing out. Those ol' 70s models can be a lot of fun. They've got a TON of personality, which usually takes the form of duct tape and/or nosewheel shimmy during taxi.
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Is personality what they call it when the instructor has a parachute on before you go up for a lesson? lol
 
I'm flying in all new (2001-2002) 172Ss (172S', 172S's, not sure how to make that plural, but anyway) now, and I haven't had a shimmy yet in them. I love flying the new ones.

But I've flown 172s and 150s and 152s from the mid 1960's to new and they are just as fun!

And like said above... hold that nose wheel off until it has to settle to the ground... it'll make it shimmy alot less often if at all!
 
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I've been lucky. The oldest cessna I've flown was a 2000 172S and those things seem to be pretty good about it.

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Wow...you never even learned to use old flip-flop radios and crap like that have you? Ever try to fly cross country IFR with a cockpit speaker because there's no intercom/headset jack??
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Wow...you never even learned to use old flip-flop radios and crap like that have you? Ever try to fly cross country IFR with a cockpit speaker because there's no intercom/headset jack??
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Now that's livin'!
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I have flown plenty of older 172's and they definitely have their own little personalities and quirks. I enjoy a tight linkage that newer 172's offer, though. One of the older 172's that I flew a little bit during my private required permanent right rudder. I don't know how many of the stories I heard were true, but I was told it was run into a fencepost and spent some time under water at some point. My right leg would be TIRED after a long flight in that plane!
 
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I've been lucky. The oldest cessna I've flown was a 2000 172S and those things seem to be pretty good about it.

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Wow...you never even learned to use old flip-flop radios and crap like that have you? Ever try to fly cross country IFR with a cockpit speaker because there's no intercom/headset jack??
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next thing I know you're gonna be telling me how you used your arms for rudder control! lol
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Can't say I've gotten a taste of the older planes, but truthfully I think it'd be exciting! haha
 
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Ever try to fly cross country IFR with a cockpit speaker because there's no intercom/headset jack??

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Or only one radio, b/c some jackass broke off the volume knob in the OFF position? I actually had to ask for a freq change to get ATIS.

Funny thing is, I had a hideous shimmy in a 2000 172SP a couple of months ago. My wife thought the nosewheel turned around completely. Those new ones are not immune, they just still have time left on the warrantee.
 
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