Rv-8 pilot reported a loss of control during landing due to sheared tail wheel alignment hardware.

Attributes
ACN	1549716
Time
Date	201805
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	RV-8
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Tail Wheel
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 24867 Flight Crew Type 420
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Ground Excursion Runway Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

During landing roll out the tail wheel housing rotated on the stinger due to the alignment bolts shearing resulting in misalignment of the steering rod locking the tail wheel in 45 degree turn. This caused a very rapid swing of the tail as in a ground loop; and the right main gear of the aircraft departed the edge of the runway with the aircraft facing the opposite direction. The right main gear dug into the soft dirt damaging the wheel pant and causing the aircraft to tip up onto the right wing tip. The aircraft then settled back onto both landing gears. I was able to move the aircraft by lifting the tail since the tail wheel was locked in the 45 degree position. The tail wheel is being repaired and wing is being evaluated for any over stress condition. Both alignment bolts in the tail wheel are sheared off. I have no idea why they sheared but I plan to check for any other reports. In the future I plan to check the torque every 100 hours and make a visual inspection of the bolts for security on every preflight inspection.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: RV-8 pilot reported a loss of control during landing due to sheared tail wheel alignment hardware.

Narrative: During landing roll out the tail wheel housing rotated on the stinger due to the alignment bolts shearing resulting in misalignment of the steering rod locking the tail wheel in 45 degree turn. This caused a very rapid swing of the tail as in a ground loop; and the right main gear of the aircraft departed the edge of the runway with the aircraft facing the opposite direction. The right main gear dug into the soft dirt damaging the wheel pant and causing the aircraft to tip up onto the right wing tip. The aircraft then settled back onto both landing gears. I was able to move the aircraft by lifting the tail since the tail wheel was locked in the 45 degree position. The tail wheel is being repaired and wing is being evaluated for any over stress condition. Both alignment bolts in the tail wheel are sheared off. I have no idea why they sheared but I plan to check for any other reports. In the future I plan to check the torque every 100 hours and make a visual inspection of the bolts for security on every preflight inspection.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.