Columbia 400 issues

[saratoga]

Anyone out there ever have an issue with a fairly severe shimmy or vibration when taxing or landing your Columbia 400?
We just aquired a 2005 and we've noticed a fairly pronounced shimmy when taxing around 25 - 30 knots and also when landing at any speed. We've changed tires, changed tire pressures, adjusted the nose assembly, etc. but nothing seems to make it go away. The nose wheel assembly was just rebuilt 40 hours ago at annual.

I'm hoping there's a mechanic or experienced 400 pilot out there that has a suggestion for us.

 

[weilke]

There used to be a pretty active web-board for the type, it changed names at one point, I believe it is now the 'cessna advanced aircraft club'. That is where they used to get together to gripe about delaminating window seals and misplaced antennas and the like.

 

[Dan Thomas]

I would suspect that the caster pivot bracket has been bent a little in a hard landing, tilting the axis so that it's farther forward at the top than at the bottom. That's the chief culprit is tailwheel and castering nosewheel shimmy. The axis should be tilted back a little.

Dan