mit wrote:Get rid of the goodyears, they have been the cause of the destruction of to many good airplanes. I would subtract money if they where installed.
Tim,can you elaborate on this? I've heard the Goodyears have trouble with shedding the clips that retain the rotors.......
mit wrote:Get rid of the goodyears, they have been the cause of the destruction of to many good airplanes. I would subtract money if they where installed.
Tim,can you elaborate on this? I've heard the Goodyears have trouble with shedding the clips that retain the rotors.......
Eric
Yes you have it correct. Then after the clips comeout, the disc slides out of one side of the wheel; cocks and locks up on the caliper. My own brother was a passenger in an Aeronca Sedan when this happened. They where lucky it was on landing when they where real slow. All they got was the Quick airport tour. There are many more planes that weren't so lucky anyone flying with these should be looking at them before and after every flight. I have seen some wheels that had cracks too but that happens to clevelands as well.
Three common causes of cracked wheels are: #3) Stress-risers from using sharp tools like screwdriver blades to dismount tires, #2) Improperly torqueing wheel bolts, and the #1) reason is: Locking the brakes and spinning/twisting the aircraft around on one wheel. This places a twisting motion on the wheel-halves that work them against each other and leads to cracks. There used to be a short, narrow paved ranch strip we operated into years ago with some company owned airplanes. The only way to turn the airplanes around and stay on the pavement and out of the thorns without getting out of the airplane and pushing was to stand on a brake and pivot it around with power. We could fly those airplanes for months on end with no problems, but right after we'd make a trip to that strip where tightly braked turns were performed, we'd discover a cracked wheel. We even isolated it to the inboard wheel that was braked in the turn.
When we deliberately stopped doing those type of turns the problem ceased. (We were slow learners. It was only after two new wheels were discovered cracked that we finally figured it out.)
In the early '60's Cessna was offering Goodyear Crosswind landing gear as a NO COST option ! They must have bought a bunch that they couldn't sell. My first new 180 was 1960 model and I chose this option.
I hated the crosswind feature and was able to disable it. But those Goodyear brakes were superb !
The disk was huge and the braking was excellent. I flew that airplane for several years and don't recall any maintenance problems.
Rudy
Funny about the xwind gear. I had a 180 with it and it worked really well. I then had a 195 with the xwinds, they had all new parts, and it just kicked out way too easy. In one experience with the 180 I let a student touch down a little crooked and it kicked out and saved us from a potential ground loop. In any event most real tailwheel pilots got rid of them and I guess if they were really great we'd see them in demand today. Kinda made your neck hurt taxiing along with a twist.
Dave, yes, and it was pretty hairy when landing on a road or narrow strip
and it kicked out. It was easy to disable however. Just drill a hole and insert a screw from the outside at the center of the wheel where the aluminum cam bulged out. This locked the wheel straight.
Rudy
I have 2 friends with 170s who I fly with every week. One of the friends still has the Goodyears and crosswind landing gear. He never uses the crosswind gear but won't get ride of them. In fact he as collected 2 1/2 extra sets for parts.
He just loves to kick out one wheel as he parks, then watch the crowd gather around looking the "broken" wheel from the restaurant window.
As for the Goodyear brakes, I can attest they work very well. Much better than my Cleveland single puck units. But here is the thing. My friend knows these brakes and gear inside out and keeps them maintained to the maximum. He even removes the pucks at annual and mikes them for even wear. If they are off he levels them with his surface grinder.
The second friend had Goodyears. They rarily worked right for him but he wasn't into maintaining them like the first friend. He got Clevelands and hasn't been happier. First friend was happy second made the conversion cause he got more Goodyear spares for nothing.
CAUTION - My forum posts may be worth what you paid for them!
Bruce Fenstermacher, Past President, TIC170A
Email: brucefenster at gmail.com
