Rminds me of my last flat tailwheel....... After landing back home and realizing I had a flat, I got the bright idea to simply set the tail on the creeper from my hangar and taxi back on the ramp to the hangar.
Becky kindly walked back to the hangar, picked up the creeper and returned to the a/c. We lifted the tail, set it on the creeper and away I went slowly taxiing back. Was able to make turns and everthing!
Thought I was pretty smart.... till I found out my cheap creeper from the local parts house did not have wheels with bearings but only the cheap plastic ones! The wheels melted from the heat just as I got back to the hangar.
Won't do that again!
Kyle
54 B N1932C
57 BMW Isetta
Best original 170B - Dearborn, MI 2005
Kyle, ...you're not supposed to taxy at the speed-of-light!
(Harbor Freight has a "movers dolly" on sale for $7 this week. If I buy one...and if I keep the spare tire/tube/repair-kit on board... I'll never have a flat tailwheel again!)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
Old pipeline pilot gave me a solid rubber tire used on roller coasters manufactured by american coaster company (Texas) I believe. Fits the scott 3200 with a little work on the tire. Dont worry about flats anymore just the legality of the situation. The tire is a little heavier than original. Cost me $35.00. Thought about developing an STC for this as I imagine it would sell like crazy. Steve
My Stinson 108 still had the original solid rubber tire the Scott tailwheel originaly came with back in 1946. On pavement it was the loudest, most bone-rattling ride you could imagine. That 45 year old rubber was hard as a rock!
In one of the above comments, "Gahorn' agrees with my use of a piece of 1/2" copper, or 5/8" copper tube, as a shim on the Scott 1/2" axle when using an industrial caster wheel, with the implied limitation of the whole set up "for ground movement purposes only".
Frankly, in my flying over these last 68 years I've never been able to find any occassions when I really needed the tail wheel while in flight. I found use for it pretty much limited to ground operations only.
However, even after all these years, I'm still open to new applications and ideas.
blueldr wrote:In one of the above comments, "Gahorn' agrees with my use of a piece of 1/2" copper, or 5/8" copper tube, as a shim on the Scott 1/2" axle when using an industrial caster wheel, with the implied limitation of the whole set up "for ground movement purposes only".
Frankly, in my flying over these last 68 years I've never been able to find any occassions when I really needed the tail wheel while in flight. I found use for it pretty much limited to ground operations only.
However, even after all these years, I'm still open to new applications and ideas.
Ya GOT me, Dick! (I guess in some cases tailwheels could even be considered "loose equipment".)
On another note.... How many of you realize who the PRIMARY PROPONENT of tailwheels to replace tail-skids was? Hint: He was one of the FIRST mfr's to install wheels to avoid tearing up the turf aerodromes of the period.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
Lost my tail wheel tire & tube on landing at Tegucigalpa Honduras once in the early 80's & of course had no spare!The head of the Aeronoutica Civil wrote an address for me to show the taxi driver where to take me to buy a new one in the city.Turned out to be the company that had all the ice cream push carts with bells on them throughout the city & they were the correct size for the tail wheel. It was a Chen Sing tire & tube & was labeled "not for highway use".That tire lasted a long time & never once got used on the highway!
The wheels melted from the heat just as I got back to the hangar.
