The International Cessna^® 170 Association

The tube in my C170B tailwheel has a leak. I am not able to pull the two-part wheel apart with common toolbox tools. Does anyone have a tip how to do this? I have of course removed the four bolts holding the two halves together. Kent

I had the same trouble a few months ago while changing out the tire and tube. All I had to do was seperate the bead from the metal rim and worked it off from there. It was amazing how tight the bead was on the rim, but with some perserverance the tire will come off.

From your post it's hard to tell if you have broken the tire away from the wheel yet. If you have not broken the bead between the tire and the wheel, place the wheel on the floor, put one foot on each side of the tire and bounce just a little bit. If it's still on there, move the tire 1/4 turn and repeat until it breaks free. It's a good time to clean and re-pack the wheel bearings while you have it all apart.

And if you need a little more persuasion I use a large flat blade screw driver that i have rounded all the sharp edges and seperate the bead from the wheel half while kneeling or pushing on the periphery of the tire like the above mentioned proceedures. When you get everything apart inspect the inside of your tailwheel tire for broken cords because underinflation causes the tire to flex to the point of breaking the cords of the plys thus causing the tube to chafe and wear thin and start leaking.

In reassembling it, I have always understood that cornstarch was a good choice for rubbing on the tube and the inside of the tire, to prevent them sticking or bonding. I did this once, but have since sold that plane. It certainly never caused any problems that I know of. Is this how other folks are doing it?

-DP

Re the above:
Talcum powder is most commomly used.

Although this can be dangerous as blazes..... A little air-pressure applied to the tire (add about 2 or 3 lbs. to a de-flated tire... just a smidgeon....) will seperate the wheel halves...IF...the wheel assembly bolts and the axle have already been removed. This is a different problem from seperating the tire from the wheel half, that others have addressed.

Cornstarch is the New-World-Order of Politically Correct versions of Baby Powder. (Talc, made from mineral, is a carcinogen when inhaled or put up a baby's genital tract..... known cause of ovarian cancer. Cornstarch is water-soluble, so modern Baby Powder is usually made of it in lieu of the original talc.)

Meanwhile... back in the hangar.... Talc is usually used inside tires to prevent chafe-ing of inner tubes. Don't breathe the stuff, either during assembly .... OR DIS-assembly

George I was going to suggest the air same as you but decided against it. If I was to use air I'd replace the bolts and leave them loose enough to allow separation of the halves or replace the bolts with longer bolts if necessary to allow a loose fit. The idea is to not allow the wheel half to be blown across the room. But again extreme caution is warranted here.

Chances are the major problem is removing the tire bead from the rim. After that is done most likely any stuck rims will separate with a blow or two of a rubber mallet

Good thinking on the loose bolts. Sometimes the gasket which mates the wheel halves together becomes like glued-together, and makes seperation difficult. The loose-bolt technique is a good safety precaution. Thanks.

gahorn wrote: Sometimes the gasket which mates the wheel halves together becomes like glued-together, and makes seperation difficult.

Gasket??? I recently disassembled my 3 year old 3200 for the first time (first time it has been taken apart since new) and there was not a gasket between the wheel halves Am I missing something?

Yes gasket, it's actually a phenolic spacer to, get this, prevent the wheel halves from sticking together, I believe the p/n is/was 2602-00. Probably spruce or ABW has em.
http://www.akbushwheel.com/CompleteTail ... embly.html

Mine sure doesn't have a gasket between the wheel halves. I have seen numerous ones and none I ever saw had the gasket. Hmmm. Does that mean we should cut a gasket out of gasket material and put it in there the next time we deflate the tire?

kmisegades wrote:The tube in my C170B tailwheel has a leak. I am not able to pull the two-part wheel apart with common toolbox tools. Does anyone have a tip how to do this? I have of course removed the four bolts holding the two halves together. Kent

I just went through this a couple days ago same problem. I tried C clamps to no avail as they would just slide to the middle of the tire. I used a table vise and that worked. Being very careful not to get the wheel halves in there, put the tire in as far as you can, then start squishing. I found it also helped to rock the tire, but be careful that you don't over do it and jam the wheel edges against the vise. Probably one side will still stay in the tire, and I found it easiest to leave the tire in the vise while I worked the other half off.

I was worried that reassembly would be a problem without excessive pressure to seat the tire edges, but the new tire went on with no problem and seated at about 30psi.

Take a good look at your old tire. Mine didn't look all that bad, old but it still had tread, however I found a couple of spots that were for lack of a better description sort of rotten. The rest of the tread was pretty firm, but on the rotten parts I could almost poke my finger through except for the threads. A new tire is cheap insurance especially after the effort of getting it all apart and back together, same for the tube.

Also I noticed that my tube was worn nearly through where the stem goes through the wheel halves. I think the tire rotated a tad when the pressure had gotten a bit low.

Oh. Merry Christmas all.