Tailwheel-what kind?

[peterzabriskie]

I was at my favorite store yesterday, Harbor Freight, to buy a hoist and a set of wheels for my "Fred Keip Special" Engine dollie and when looking at the available wheels found 3.5" and 4" hard rubber wheels that looked to me like a good fit for our Sonerai tailwheel. Cost $6-$9. Anybody got reasons why this would be a bad idea? Thanks, Pete

[schines]

Hi Pete,
I do shop at Harbor Freight sometimes, but it has been my experience that most of their Chinese import parts are of inferior quality, especially when it comes to things that use bearings. I would not trust their wheels on an airplane! You may have seen posts on sonerai.net about tail wheel problems. I am no expert on the subject, having never flown a sonerai, but there seems to have been instances of Great Plains(?) tail wheels disintegrating on landings, etc. I hope someone else will weigh in on this, but for now I plan to use the $27 one from Aircraft Spruce. Just my 2 cents.
Scott

[raceair]

The Sonerais USED to use a thin snowmobile bogie wheel/tire. Lately I have been experimenting with the 3" and 4" dia. rollerblade tires. They are light, tough, and have a good bearing set, with a 5/16" bore....Can be bushed down to a 1/4" bore...Ed F.

[peterzabriskie]

Sept 25, 2011 12:37:20 GMT -5 raceair said:

The Sonerais USED to use a thin snowmobile bogie wheel/tire. Lately I have been experimenting with the 3" and 4" dia. rollerblade tires. They are light, tough, and have a good bearing set, with a 5/16" bore....Can be bushed down to a 1/4" bore...Ed F.

Thank you both Tom and Ed, Tom this particular wheel is made in India, and has what *looks* like better than average HF quality. What bearings are inside is is of course a mystery.
Ed, I have been reading the thread Jeurgen has been posting about his use of rollerblade tailwheel and would go that route too. HF is here and I don't have to wait or pay for shipping. I think that what I will do because I need a tailwheel asap just to move my airframe around the *Hanger* (read garage) I will put on the HF, then write Jeurgen to see how his rollerblade wheel is holding up. Thanks guys.

P.S. I was just searching again...For that $27 A/C Spruce Tailwheel Tom...Please send the part number, can't find anything less than $130.

P.P.S. Did a little more hunting...Wicks has 4" wheels made by R&K. Looking up R&K they make industrial handtruck and dollie wheels similar to what I was looking at in HF. They are in Calif. not India but these days where the materials come from is anybody's guess. The one little brite light I found was that Wick's 4" x 3/8"BR x 1 1/2" WD is the Sonex wheel and from the picture(*looking* again) this is a custom made wheel and not an *off the shelf* handtruck/dollie wheel. Knowing John Monnett just a little from a couple of handshakes I think this one or the rollerblade is my best choice.
www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_detail.php/pid=9676~subid=10442/index.html

[schines]

Hi Pete,
The Wicks part looks pretty good to me, but here is the AS part numbers anyway:
06-03500 (4x1.5x5/8)-$23.85
OR
06-00067 (4x1.5x3/8)-$23.85
+
06-00060 Sealed Bearing upgrade for above- $2.55

-Scott

[splischke]

My GPASC tailwheel had seen better days so I purchased the previously mentioned 06-00067 wheel. It looks like a very durable wheel that should last a long time. However, it's noticeably heavier than the GPASC wheel and, more importantly, it's wider. The rubber is 1-1/2" wide but the hub is a little wider and did not fit the caster. My caster is welded steel and not the cast aluminum one sold today. I was able to modify my caster to accommodate the extra width. Just passing this info on.

-Scott

[schines]

Thanks for the update, Scott. You mentioned that the GPASC caster is aluminum now. Would you suggest modifying the aluminum caster, finding a different tail wheel, or making a steel caster to fit the AS wheel?

[splischke]

I recommend that you use the GPASC tailwheel. It fits the caster. In fact, had I known the hub on the 06-00067 wheel was about 1/4" wider than the GPASC wheel, I would have opted to buy another GPASC wheel.

My last two GPASC wheels never disintegrated but at 200 hours of operation off mostly turf fields, the bearings wore-out. 200 hours may not seem like much but for many of us this is four years of flying. So every 4 years, spend $32.95 for a new wheel.

My first tailwheel was purchased in the 90s from GPASC and that wheel wore very fast. Chunks of rubber broke away in the first few hours of operation. I could see that wheel disintegrating. GPASC long ago stopped selling that brand.

-Scott

[n3480h]

I just bought a GPASC 4" tailwheel. It appears to be decent quality, good bearings, and there are dust caps to protect the bearings.

Tom

[peterzabriskie]

Jeurgen are you flying with your inline skate wheel?

[bil438]

I had a series of tailwheel failures or very short tire lives. In the end, I took a close look at the Scott and Maule wheels. They retail for more than a Thousand dollars. So I bought $10 of aluminum bar and turned up two 4" wheel halves on my lathe. The bearings are sealed ball bearings from a Camry cam belt tensioner.
The local FBO carries the tire and tube in stock. Ease of replacement was important. There was also the fork to consider, so I also milled the parts for the yoke and had them TIG welded. Results:
- The tire appears to be indestructable as are the wheel and yoke. (Don't ask)
- The aircraft still does a hook landing but being bigger the tire sort of pushes forward on touchdown. It's no a problem, but it does feel different. These days I'm working on wheel landings. The tire/wheel are something like 2.50 X2.25 X 4.00. I'm running it at 20 psi.
If anyone wants a photo, I have one handy.
Bill

[juergen]

Hi Peter,
I had finished the caster, tested it static, but not yet flown, because with this
caster, the tail comes more down and I will mount it, when I change to the
lamb tires, I think next year (the new wheel pants are not finished yet).
with best regards
juergen