>
> The notion that having more surface area on the ground increases friction and should dampen shimmy makes sense to me
> --- friction induced dampening.  Yet, others say increasing the pressure makes shimmy go away.  What gives?
>
> The apparently black art nature of this beast called shimmy is very frustrating.  Could it be that changes either up or down in pressure from shimmy-prone pressures change the oscillation frequency so as to avoid hitting the frequency that develops into shimmy?
>
> There must be answers to these questions.
>
> Baffled.

In my many years of experience working on airplanes, I have found that
the shimmy problem is not always the nose wheel in and of itself.  An
out of round tire, flat spots, loose bearings, etc. on a main tire will
excite the nose gear and start the shimmy.  Fix the main gear problem
and the nose wheel problem disappears.

duane