Operation Round Wheels

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jesse

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jesse
There was somewhat of an entertaining factor to the Flybaby's rather cartoon-like handling characteristics caused by the somewhat square tires. All good things must eventually come to an end so I finally put new tires on and replaced the solid Maule tailwheel with a new pneumatic Matco tailwheel.

I'm still tweaking the tension on the tailwheel springs trying to decide what is the best (any advice anyone?) but initial ground taxi tests seem to indicate a great improvement. Haven't flown yet.

Old:
dz00ukX.jpg


New:
wMDHpTx.jpg


Old:
CMpzizb.jpg


New:
RzbSeT7.jpg


The Maule to Matco conversion wasn't quite as "bolt on and fly" as I had hoped. Took a little drilling and dremeling to get it done. But overall wasn't too bad.
 
The tailwheel looks great...nice job, Jesse. :thumbsup:
 
Fine-looking tars.
 
damn, nice tires Jesse. those mains aren't cheap either. problem is 6.00x6's look stupid. Now what is your excuse going to be for bouncy landings.
 
Jesse,
Tailwheel angle is critical for proper steering and no shimmy.
 

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Oh, you bought an Italian airplane! You know one that goes woo, wop wop...
























sorry, I just couldn't resist
 
d.grimm said:
Jesse,
Tailwheel angle is critical for proper steering and no shimmy.
Click to expand...

Yeah. His looks tilted forward and might shimmy. It's usually the tailsprings that are tired. Might be re-arced in a hydraulic press.

Dan
 
LDJones said:
Did that double the value of the aircraft??! :D :wink2:
Click to expand...

Similar to filling the fuel tank of a Yugo?

(a news story I found recently from South LA reported that a Yugo was involved in a gang push-by shooting...)
 
Dan Thomas said:
Yeah. His looks tilted forward and might shimmy. It's usually the tailsprings that are tired. Might be re-arced in a hydraulic press.

Dan
Click to expand...
Well the old one wasn't tilted forward so it's some angular difference between the Maule and the Matco. I haven't had the opportunity yet to get back out to the airport to see if I can work out the issue. Might just be a matter of adding/removing shims or repositioning the spring.
 
that tailwheel spring was at least heat treated by Adam Kite in one of the labs at Iowa State where he was working on his Masters degree. He may have built the spring entirely, I can't recall.
 
Well there is another spring too which I think is a different angle. The current one also has some shims that put it in the angle it's currently at. Pretty sure this can be worked out without much effort.
 
a few of your landings and it will be bent back anyway :)
 
Well I spent some time this evening looking at the tailwheel trying to figure out if the angle would be an easy thing to fix. After a lot of staring at it I couldn't see any method to change it other then to remove the spring and change the angle. That wasn't something I was really wanting to tackle.

I looked through a bunch of pictures I took of the previous tailwheel and it too had the same angle as the new one. Given that I didn't think it was that likely there would be any major shimmy issue.

So..I decided to fly it. I did a few takeoff and landings on grass and then on pavement. No shimmy observed. I suspect the angle just isn't that critical on a Flybaby since you're landing at such a slow speed. I'm sure with more speed a shimmy would be possible.

It was amazing how *SMOOTH* things are at touchdown now. Before things just were never that smooth landing. Round wheels help, a lot, wish I'd had done it earlier. I was way too entertained by how nicely things felt rolling out.

New tailwheel lost it's grass virginity:
gaJux1r.jpg
 
The inspection plate did not come from that hole. :wink2:
gaJux1r.jpg
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There's a lot of satisfaction in making little repairs like that with a noticeable impact in how the plane flies.
 
That inspection panel has always been that way. someone forgot the middle stripe when they painted it.
 
I am actually very, very impressed at the mechanical aptitude that allows such alterations. I was nervous as could be working on my own aircraft with expert supervision, and all I was doing was taking out some screws.
 
Jesse - your tailwheel geometry looks okay to me. The solid Maule wheel has a lot more mass and frankly, they are problematic in regards to shimmy issues. For one thing, the solid wheel has no give so every time you land hard the spring has to take the hit. I'm not a fan of them at all. Owned an M7 and even the big pneumatic wheel was never that great. My current Champ has a Scott and it has never shimmied, not once. I'm currently putting my Luscombe together and I might consider the Matco, looks way lighter than the Scott and has to be better than the Maule.
 
Silvaire said:
Jesse - your tailwheel geometry looks okay to me. The solid Maule wheel has a lot more mass and frankly, they are problematic in regards to shimmy issues. For one thing, the solid wheel has no give so every time you land hard the spring has to take the hit. I'm not a fan of them at all. Owned an M7 and even the big pneumatic wheel was never that great. My current Champ has a Scott and it has never shimmied, not once. I'm currently putting my Luscombe together and I might consider the Matco, looks way lighter than the Scott and has to be better than the Maule.
Click to expand...

k
Keep in mind the Matco isn't certified for certified aircraft so it would take a field STC and those are pretty hard to come by.
 
True, it's actually the Lange that I was thinking of. It might be possible to get a field approval for the Matco, I don't know if it's been done but there is definitely no STC.
 
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