I've found over the years the thing most responsible for nosewheel shimmy is simply lack of proper maintenence. None of the Cessnas that I regularly fly (172 182 182RG & 210) ever have a problem with shimmy at the front end. As rootin around has suggested, if all the hardware is torqued up to where it should be, the slop is taken out of the mechanism and the shimmy dampener is serviced when required, there shouldn't be a problem.
On the 210 that was purchased recently, it was obvious that the shimmy dampner had never ever been serviced since it had rolled out the factory door back in '82 and in 1700 hours of flying. Go figure!
I might add it definitely pays to keep these parts serviced and in good repair. When the pre-purchase was done on the 210, it was noticed (strange how noone else noticed though) that there was quite a siginificant bend or curve if you like, in the top nosewheel torque link. I'm assuming that at some point the front oleo was over inflated by some siginificant margin. We priced a new one from Cessna and had our breath taken away when told "yep, got one on the shelf and it's gonna cost you $3,300.00"!!! That's $3,300 for just the top torque link and nothing else. Ouch! We made alternate arrangements.
Last edited by gassed budgie; 17th May 2009 at 13:16.